British businessman to remain in custody on charge of killing Indonesian woman in Hong Kong

HONG KONG (AP) — A British businessman was ordered Friday to remain in custody after being charged with murder in Hong Kong over the death of an Indonesian woman at a park waterfall.

Jamie Tzewee Chapman, 34, did not enter a plea in the court appearance and his lawyer did not request bail. The judge adjourned the case to January to allow time for further investigation.

Chapman and his wife, a Hong Konger, were arrested Tuesday when they returned to the city from mainland China. His wife had been held on suspicion of assisting an offender before being released on bail pending further investigation, police said Thursday.

Police said Chapman and the Indonesian woman went together to a waterfall in a park on Hong Kong Island on Sunday night. He left about half an hour later, and residents spotted the woman’s body in the pond below the waterfall Monday morning, police said. She had been struck in the head and drowned.

Mevi Novitasari, who was about 25, was a domestic worker in Hong Kong but did not work for the suspect, police have said.

She was from Cilacap in Central Java province, Judha Nugraha, director of protection of Indonesian citizens and legal entities, said from Indonesia.

Her employment agency and the Indonesian consulate will facilitate the repatriation of the remains and the consulate general will continue to monitor the investigation, he said.

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Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report

Leung covers Hong Kong, Macao and mainland China for The Associated Press. She is based in Hong Kong.