Naked woman of Kai Tak identified
Police have finally identified the mysterious so-called 'naked woman of Kai Tak', who was found sitting by the old airport runway more than three weeks ago - but they fear the real story of what happened to her may never be known.
She has been identified as a 41-year-old Swiss woman who appears to be suffering from amnesia. Consulate staff have traced her family in Switzerland and authorities there hope she can be reunited with her family next week.
After remaining mute for 21/2 weeks, the woman suddenly began speaking to hospital staff in French late last week in the psychiatric ward of Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital.
She has told officers that she cannot recall many details of her life story and is unable to explain why she was found, almost naked, sitting by the former runway, which has now been converted into a golf driving range.
She was covered only in plastic shopping bags, carrying no identity documents, and apparently unable to speak.
Medical examinations of the woman have shown no evidence of sexual assault or physical injuries. Amnesia can be brought on by severe mental trauma, but police say they still do not know what happened to her or how she came to be found by Marine Police, sitting on the edge of the runway around 10.45am on September 2.
The woman's family, who live in the French-speaking Lake Geneva area of Switzerland, have asked police and consular staff not to release her name, but they have confirmed her identity.
Police this month released a photograph of her and appealed to the Hong Kong public for information, but no one came forward to identify her. She had not appeared on any missing persons lists.
The woman has told police she believes she may have worked as a teacher in Guangzhou but has said she does not know how or when she came to Hong Kong or how she came to be dressed in nothing but ParknShop bags when she was found.
Peter Barnes, senior superintendent of Kowloon East Regional Crime Unit, said: 'She is talking but not very coherently. She has no injuries. She said she also recalled staying in Kowloon somewhere, but Kowloon's a big place. We're still trying to piece it together. We don't know when she arrived in Hong Kong.'
He said police had now realised she had spent her birthday, September 13, at the hospital, when she had turned 41. 'I suggested that perhaps we should now take her a birthday cake,' he said.
The consulate will supply her with emergency identification documents that will enable her to travel.
Swiss consular attache Sacha Bachmann said: 'It will be up to her doctor to decide if she will be fit to travel and to determine if she can leave Hong Kong next week. I think she will leave Hong Kong and we will end up not knowing what really happened.'
