Hong Kong foreigner accused of killing Southeast Asian domestic worker

HONG KONG – Hong Kong authorities charged a foreign man on October 31 with the murder of a 25-year-old Southeast Asian woman whose body was found at the foot of a waterfall.

The woman was found in a pond in Waterfall Bay Park on October 28 and was pronounced dead at the scene, with police later saying she had head injuries.

The victim was a domestic worker who was not employed by the suspect, police said.

The 34-year-old foreigner was arrested a day later along with his wife, a 36-year-old from Hong Kong, when they returned from China.

The man was identified as a British businessman by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. The British consulate did not immediately respond to an AFP inquiry about the case.

The woman’s death has been classified as a homicide because “the evidence does not seem to suggest a natural death,” Police Commissioner Sin Kwok-ming told reporters earlier.

An initial post-mortem examination “detected head injuries and the cause of death was asphyxiation by drowning,” police added.

Police said the two suspects went to the waterfall together on the night of Oct. 27, but after half an hour, the man left alone.

He did not contact the police and immediately left Hong Kong in what Inspector Sin described as “unreasonable” moves.

Authorities said the male suspect, who is due in court on November 1, held a Hong Kong identity card but did not give his name or nationality.

His wife was arrested for assisting criminals and released on bail on the condition she report to a police station in November.

There are more than 350,000 migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, many coming from Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia.

The Asian Migrants Coordination Body, an advocacy group, on October 30 expressed its “deepest pain and anger” over the case. AFP