Woman and 5-year-old son fall to their deaths in suspected murder-suicide case at Hong Kong building
- Force alerted to incident by security guard at Cullinan West residential block in Cheung Sha Wan
- Reports of loud sound between 4am and 5am, which may have been when pair plunged to their deaths, police say
A 30-year-old woman and her five-year-old son fell to their deaths from a Hong Kong residential building in a suspected murder-suicide case, police on Monday said.
The incident at the Cullinan West residential block in Cheung Sha Wan was reported to the force at 9.55am by a building security guard.
Emergency personnel were called to the building and the two were certified dead at the scene.
According to a police investigation, the woman was the boy’s mother. Officers located the flat from where the two had plunged to their deaths and found their identity documents.
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Patrick Tse Yu-ngai, acting assistant district commander of Sham Shui Po, said no suicide note was found at the scene.
The incident was being investigated as a murder-suicide case by the Sham Shui Po district crime squad.
Tse said that while police had received a call at around 10am, a loud sound was reportedly heard between 4am and 5am, which might have been when the pair fell to their deaths. He said investigators were yet to establish the actual time of the incident.
The woman, her son and husband, who was currently not in the city but was returning home, had shared the flat for more than two years, he said.
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“We will launch a probe to look into multiple perspectives, including the deceased’s family and mental status,” said Tse, adding potential relationship issues would also be a focus of the investigation.
No social workers had been assisting the family, he said.
The city in recent years has witnessed a number of murder-suicide cases involving parents and children.
In September 2022, a pregnant woman attempted to throw herself off a building in Sham Shui Po, where she was later arrested on suspicion of murdering her five-year-old son.
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Another case in 2021 saw a businesswoman and her five-month-old daughter fall to their deaths from their penthouse flat in an upscale residential block, with initial investigations showing the woman had suffered from postnatal depression.
Additional reporting by Clifford Lo
