Hong Kong man, 68, kills ex-wife with knife then leaps to his death from 22-storey building
Attack may have been prompted by earlier fight over money, sources say
An elderly man is believed to have killed his ex-wife with a knife before leaping to his death from the roof of a Hong Kong office block on Wednesday.
Initial investigations showed the two had previously argued over money, and this could have sparked the fatal attack, according to law enforcement sources.
Police said the 68-year-old man, surnamed Che, was a security guard, while his former spouse, 64, was a cleaner. They worked in the same office block – Hua Qin International Building – on Queen's Road Central in Sheung Wan.
Initial information indicated the woman was cleaning one of the offices in the building at the time she was attacked.
Superintendent Lam Wing-ho, assistant Central district commander, said the woman suffered knife wounds in the chest and neck and was found unconscious in the second-floor office of the building.
He said a 34cm-long knife, believed to have been used as weapon, was found in the office’s toilet.
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“After the attack, the man called his colleague claiming he had just killed his wife and he wanted to commit suicide,” one source said.
The colleague called police shortly before 8am.
The source said Che jumped from the roof of the 22-storey building before emergency personnel arrived. He was found on the building podium and was certified dead by paramedics at the scene.
His ex-wife suffered knife wounds and was found unconscious in the office. She was taken to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai, where she was later declared dead.
Police have classified the case as a murder and suicide.
The deaths come about two months after a two-year-old boy was thrown out of a window by his mother before she jumped to her death from a public housing flat in Yau Tong on July 24.
The two-year-old boy was still receiving treatment in Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei and his condition was stable.
Figures show police handled 17 reports of murder in the first six months of this year, a 54.5 per cent rise compared with 11 cases in the same period last year.
