A British businessman has been charged with murder in Hong Kong after an Indonesian housekeeper was found dead at the bottom of a waterfall.
Jamie Tzewee Chapman, 34, did not enter a plea in a court appearance and his lawyer did not request bail. The judge adjourned the case to January to allow time for further investigation.
Mr Chapman and his 36-year-old wife from Hong Kong were arrested at a train station on Tuesday when they returned to the city from mainland China.
Photos taken on Tuesday show the handcuffed suspect wearing a hood over his face as police officers took him around the scene of the crime for a filmed reconstruction.
Police said on Thursday his wife had been held on suspicion of assisting an offender before being released on bail pending further investigation.
Media in Hong Kong reported that the couple settled in the former British colony and set up a business after getting married.
According to police, Mr Chapman and the Indonesian woman went together to a waterfall in a park on Hong Kong Island on Sunday night.
Detectives believe he left about half an hour later and residents spotted the woman’s body in the pond below the waterfall on Monday morning. She had been struck in the head and drowned.
Police said an initial postmortem examination showed the cause of death to be asphyxiation by drowning, adding head injuries were also found.
Supt Sin Kwok-ming told reporters: “The evidence did not appear to suggest a natural death.”
Mevi Novitasari, who was about 25, was a domestic worker in Hong Kong but did not work for the suspect, according to police.
Judha Nugraha, director of protection of Indonesian citizens and legal entities, said from Indonesia that she was from Cilacap in Central Java province.
He said her employment agency and the Indonesian consulate will facilitate the repatriation of the remains and the consulate general will continue to monitor the investigation.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are aware of a British national arrested in Hong Kong and are in contact with local authorities.”
