Hong Kong couple killed themselves and their 7-year-old son, police say
- Bodies found in Evergreen Tower in Western Garden estate on Second Street
- Authorities received call from domestic helper who detected strong odour and suspected gas leak
A Hong Kong couple in financial trouble killed themselves and their seven-year-old son, police said, by burning charcoal in their Western district flat where their bodies were found on Monday night.
The victims were discovered in Evergreen Tower in the Western Garden estate on Second Street after firefighters forced open the door of the rented flat.
Firefighters arrived at the scene after a call from the family’s foreign domestic helper at about 8.25pm, police said. The aide had returned home and detected an odd odour and was worried that there was a gas leak.
Police said the bodies of a 42-year-old father, 40-year-old mother and their seven-year-old son were found on a bed in a sleeping room, where there was burned charcoal.
The couple wrote a suicide note in which they indicated that they owed debts to a financial firm, police said.
Police chief inspector Hung Kit-har of Western district said the police believed the couple – a clerk and a property agent respectively – had drugged their son, a primary two pupil, to let him sleep before they burned charcoal in a closed bedroom.