The suspect in a recent robbery slaying in an integrated resort in Cotai has been arrested in Hebei province’s Cangzhou city – 1,800 kilometres north of Macau.
A special press conference was held on Wednesday about the outcome of a cross-border police investigation into the suspected homicide of a woman from the mainland whose body was found in a guestroom of the hotel on May 7.
A mainland Chinese man was arrested by the police on May 10 in Cangzhou (滄州), a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, for robbing and murdering the victim on May 3 in the room, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during the press conference.
The suspect surnamed Huo, who is in his forties, is Hebei native. He entered Macau as a tourist on April 9, and his visitor permit expired on April 16. He was fined by the local authorities before leaving Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint on May 3.
Illegal currency exchange
The victim was a woman from the mainland in her fifties surnamed Huang. Chan said that she was engaged in illegal currency exchange deals in Macau.
According to Chan, a member of the hotel’s staff in Cotai reported to the Fire Services Bureau (CB) at about 4 p.m. on May 7 that a cleaner had discovered a female corpse in a guestroom when they went to clean it earlier that day.
PJ officer went to the hotel guestroom to investigate and found a woman lying dead on the floor of the room with a white bathrobe belt wrapped around her neck. Chan said her death was caused by someone else and, consequently, the police immediately launched a “serious crime scene investigation”.
Chan said PJ officers discovered that the victim was engaged in illegal currency exchange in Macau. According to the hotel’s CCTV footage, the suspect took Huang from the property’s casino to his guestroom at 10:30 p.m. on May 3.
Murder with robbery
According to Chan, the Judiciary Police believe that the suspect strangled Huang to death with a bathrobe belt and robbed her cash and smartphone. The hotel’s CCTV footage showed that the suspect left the room after about 15 minutes and went gambling at a casino outside the hotel premises. He left Macau later that night via the Barrier Gate checkpoint and absconded to the mainland.
Chan pointed out that the suspect had booked the guestroom until May 6 and texted the hotel that no cleaning service was required until that day. He then extended the booking for another day to May 7 when the cleaner discovered the body.
The Judiciary Police was told by Huang’s relatives that she was carrying HK$250,000 in cash for currency exchange deals on May 3, Chan said.
Strangled with bathrobe belt
After a forensic examination showed that the victim sustained multiple bruises on the limbs, indicating that she had put up a fight when she was being strangled to death. Her strangulation was caused by the bathrobe belt and the cause of death was suffocation, the examination determined. The time of her death was about four days before the day her corpse was discovered, according to Chan.
Chan said PJ officers identified Huo as the murder suspect and requested the mainland police track him down.
Huo was arrested on May 10 in Cangzhou and was transferred to the city’s Public Prosecutions Office for investigation.
Chan said that Huo admitted to committing the crime, adding that he would be tried in the mainland and, consequently, would not be transferred to Macau.
Unlike in Macau, Huo faces capital punishment in the mainland. In Macau the maximum prison for robbery resulting in the victim’s death amounts to 20 years, according to Article 204 of the Macau Penal Code.
According to Chan, the case was solved in a short period of time thanks to the joint effort of the police forces in Macau and the mainland and their determination to fight serious crime.
Chan said both police forces were still looking for the whereabouts of the robbed money, as well as investigating the kind of relationship the victim and the suspect had and the latter’s exact motive.
This undated handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Wednesday shows PJ officers investigating the murder scene in a hotel guestroom in Cotai.
This undated handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Wednesday shows the bathrobe belt used by the suspect to kill the victim in the guestroom.
This undated image provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Wednesday shows the murder scene.
