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Clifford Lo

Danny Mok

Strongly built suspect seen at two of the sites where prostitutes were murdered
A 'strongly built' South Asian man has become a suspect in the deaths of four prostitutes in three days after he was seen in two Tai Po buildings where two women were killed in their one-woman brothels on Saturday.
A man of similar appearance was also caught on a security camera leaving a building in North Point where the fourth victim was found yesterday afternoon.
The suspect was spotted visiting a yat lau yat fung - literally 'one flat one phoenix' - establishment on the third floor of the Tak Hong Building  in Kwong Fuk Road,  Tai Po, on Saturday evening. It is one floor below another one-woman brothel where victim Tse Hau-yuen, 35,  worked.
A police source said the man left after finding two sex workers inside.
Later one of the women, a 31-year-old surnamed Yeung, went to visit another sex worker, identified only as Suen, in a second-floor flat in Wai Yan Street, about 100 metres away, the source said. Finding a sign on the gate saying her friend was busy, she waited downstairs and at about 10pm saw the suspect rush out. Suen, found unconscious on the floor of her flat, was declared dead in hospital at 8.23am on Sunday.
Tse, known by her nickname, Kei Kei, was found dead in the Tak Hong Building flat at about 12.45am yesterday. And later, the fourth victim, Tam Siu-fong, 27  - nicknamed Amy - was found kneeling naked in the toilet of a first-floor flat at 96 Electric Road, North Point.
Officers believe Suen, whose nickname was Sa Sa, was attacked between 9pm and 9.30pm on Saturday and Tse was murdered at about 11pm on the same night. 'Initial examination suggested Tse was suffocated, possibly with a pillow,' a police source said. 'No sign of struggle was found and she was probably overpowered by the strongly built man.'
Results of an autopsy issued later said Tse, who lived with her daughter and husband in Ma On Shan, had been choked to death by hand.
Police said Sze Ming-lan, 35, Suen and Tse came from the mainland and had Hong Kong identity cards and Tam was also a mainlander.
The naked body of Sze, nicknamed Co Co, was found in her Yuen Long flat on Saturday. She was strangled with a shower hose on Friday.
All four victims were found to have advertised on two sex websites. Their flats had been ransacked.
Senior Superintendent Steve Li Wing-hong  said there were similarities in the three cases but the police had not identified any single suspect.
The fourth victim, Tam Siu-fong, was found dead in her one-woman brothel in Electric Road, North Point, at 2.23pm yesterday after fellow prostitutes became anxious and had a locksmith open her door. A source said she had been dead about a day.
Elaine Lam Yee-ling, a spokeswoman for sex workers' group Zi Teng, said a woman who sought help from police after she found Tam was horrified and 'just could not stop crying'. 'She said other sex workers who operate one-woman brothels in the area nearby had been calling the victim for the whole day on Sunday. But they could not reach her,' she said.
'They decided to go to her brothel to check if she was fine, as they were worried that something horrible might have happened to her. So they went to the flat in North Point and found that she was unconscious.'
The case is being investigated by officers from the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau.
Ms Lam said another prostitute had called Zi Teng between 2.30pm and 3.30pm yesterday to say a South Asian man had visited her one-woman brothel in Sham Shui Po.
'She was very panicky, as some newspaper reports said the suspect could be a South Asian man. The worker told me the man was very suspicious and he did not do anything or have sex with her. He just walked around her rented flat and asked her something and left the flat,' she said.
The three killings in the New Territories are being investigated by detectives from New Territories North crime unit.
Trail of death
The victims, locations and possible times of the attacks
1 Sze Ming-lan, 35
Strangled in flat on Tung Lok St, Yuen Long, on Friday night. Body found at 1.15am on Saturday
2 Woman surnamed Suen, 30
Choked in Wai Yan St flat, Tai Po, between 9pm and 9.30pm on Saturday. Found unconscious at 10.15pm on Saturday and declared dead at 8.24am on Sunday
3 Tse Hau-yuen, 35
Killed in Kwong Fuk Rd flat, Tai Po, about 11pm on Saturday. Body found at 12.45am yesterday
4 Tam Siu-fong, 27
Found dead in first-floor flat on Electric Rd, North Point, at 2.23pm yesterday



Hunt for S Asian man over 4 killings