British businessman accused of murder in Hong Kong

A British businessman has been ordered to remain in custody in Hong Kong after being charged with murder over the death of an Indonesian woman at a waterfall in a park.

Jamie Tzewee Chapman, 34, did not enter a plea during his court appearance on Friday and his lawyer did not apply for bail.

The judge adjourned the case until January to allow time for further investigations.

Chapman and his wife, a Hong Konger, were arrested on Tuesday when they returned to the city from mainland China.

His wife was detained on suspicion of assisting an offender before being released on bail pending further investigation, police said on Thursday.

Police said Chapman and the Indonesian woman went to a waterfall together in a park on Hong Kong Island on Sunday evening.

He left about half an hour later. Residents saw the woman’s body in the pond below the waterfall on Monday morning, police said.

She had been hit in the head and drowned.

Mevi Novitasari, who was about 25, was a domestic worker in Hong Kong but did not work for the suspect, police said.

She was from Cilacap in Central Java province, said Judha Nugraha, Indonesia’s director of protection of Indonesian citizens and legal entities.

Her employment agency and the Indonesian consulate will arrange the repatriation of her body, and the consulate general will continue to monitor the investigation, he said.