A married couple have been arrested in Hong Kong for the suspected murder of a domestic worker whose body was discovered near a waterfall on Monday.
Police detained the 34-year-old foreigner with a Hong Kong identity card and his 36-year-old Hong Kong-born wife on Tuesday afternoon. They are suspected in the murder of the 25-year-old Southeast Asian domestic worker whose body was found at the Waterfall Bay Park near Aberdeen early on Monday, reported the Hong Kong Free Press.
The man is accused of murder while the wife faces charges of allegedly aiding in his attempt to evade the law.
The victim had visible wounds on her forehead, back of the head and limbs, but her clothes and belongings remained untouched, police superintendent Sin Kwok-ming was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.
An initial autopsy concluded that she likely sustained trauma from a hard object and subsequently drowned, reported the outlet.
Investigators said the victim arrived at the park with the male suspect at around 11pm on Sunday in a taxi.
They went to the top of the waterfall where, roughly half an hour later, the man left abruptly, again by taxi.
Police identified the man and dispatched a squad to his home in Ap Lei Chau. By the time they arrived, however, the man and his wife had crossed into mainland China.
They were arrested upon their return to Hong Kong, at the West Kowloon railway station around 5pm on Tuesday.
Police confirmed the male suspect was known to the victim, although details about the nature of their relationship, the sequence of events and potential motives were still under investigation.
Police are awaiting a toxicology report to determine drug usage, reported the South China Morning Post.
Mr Sin said police suspected the man due to his conduct. “A lot of things about him were unreasonable,” he was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong Free Press. He elaborated that the man neither reported the incident nor stayed in Hong Kong and “some evidence had also disappeared for no reason”.
“All these circumstances suggest that this is not a case of natural death,” the superintendent said. The couple remain in custody as police carry out the investigation.
