A Hong Kong man was arrested by Macau police yesterday in connection with the murder of a 46-year-old woman who sustained multiple injuries and was found dead in a hotel in the casino hub.
The arrest came after Macau police received a report earlier at around 10.50am that a woman's body was found at the Pension Florida Hotel on Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro with multiple "unusual wounds" to her head.
The man suspected to be involved in the case was arrested at the exterior port of Macau and detained for an ongoing police investigation.
It is understood that a hotel staff member found the victim's body yesterday and filed a police report when the victim failed to check out of the city center hotel - which has been temporarily closed pending further investigations - and that she was killed after being robbed.
Macau police determined that the victim was a Macau resident and she is believed to have been dead for more than a day.
The case was classified as a murder following an initial investigation.
Police also seized some of her belongings, pillows and bed sheets from the hotel, as well as several environmental samples for further investigation.
At a police briefing, Macau judiciary police spokesman Chong Kam-leong said the police "attaches great importance to the case" and that the suspect involved was arrested at the exterior port of Macau.
Officers brought him back to the hotel at 4pm yesterday to assist in a forensic crime scene reconstruction and to the nearby Rua de Manuel de Arriaga for investigation, where he is suspected to have disposed of a mobile phone and a suitcase. Officers left the scene at around 5:30pm.
Chong said local law enforcement officers need more time to make inquiries and organize the evidence they collected before speaking at a special press briefing today on the man's age, the time he entered Macau, the motive of the crime and the identity of the deceased.
While criminal law in Macau prohibits life imprisonment and capital punishment, murder is punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison.
Offenders may also face a sentence of 15 to 25 years if the deceased was killed under circumstances that indicate "culpability or malice" from the offender, including the involvement of torture, killing for sport, the murder of a relative and racist or religious motivations.