Kwai Chung Estate deaths probed as murder-suicide
RTHK · 3 SOURCESabout 1 hour ago3 MIN
Summary
Police are investigating the deaths of an elderly couple at Chun Kwai House in Kwai Chung Estate as a suspected murder-suicide. Officers said the husband, aged 80, was found after a fall from height, while his 66-year-old wife was later found dead inside their flat with severe head injuries.
Key Points
- A security guard called police at about 11.32pm on August 23 after an 80-year-old man was found lying outside Chun Kwai House, apparently after falling from a high floor
- Officers then entered the couple's high-floor flat and found the 66-year-old wife in the living room with multiple head lacerations and serious bleeding injuries
- A preliminary forensic examination indicated the man died after falling from height, while the woman was believed to have been fatally struck on the head with a hard object between 7pm and 11pm
- Police said the couple had been married for 40 years, had no record of domestic violence or mental illness, but their relationship was poor and they had planned to divorce over emotional issues.
- Investigators recovered bloodstained clothing and suspected weapons, including a metal load-bearing rack, two metal bars and a clothes-drying rack, from a rubbish bin near the lift lobby on the same floor
- Neighbours told HK01 that the husband was seen as aloof, rarely greeted others and often played old Cantopop songs from the 1980s and 1990s at very high volume, leading to complaints and disputes with neighbours. One resident who had lived on the same floor for about 29 years said she had occasionally seen the man in the lift but had never seen his wife, and heard no argument on the night of the incident. Another neighbour said she had little contact with the family because of different schedules and only learned of the deaths from the news, adding that she was frightened by a homicide on the same floor
- Police also found the flat's window and window grille open in the direction of the man's fall, and recovered three mobile phones belonging to the two deceased. The couple's two daughters had moved out years earlier, according to police. The case has been handed to Team 1 of the Kwai Tsing District crime squad, and autopsies will be arranged to confirm the causes of death
Why It Matters
The case remains under investigation, with post-mortem examinations expected to clarify the exact causes and sequence of the two deaths. For residents in large public housing estates, the incident has also raised immediate concern about neighbour awareness and how domestic distress can remain largely unseen inside a household.