The parents of a woman who was allegedly murdered by a British businessman in Hong Kong have spoken of their devastation after she was found dead at the bottom of a waterfall.
Mevi Novitasari, 25, was found floating in Waterfall Bay Park in Aberdeen, Hong Kong, on Monday, with fatal head wounds.
Entrepreneur Jamie Chapman, 34, from Surrey, was charged last Friday with murdering Mevi, who worked as a maid.
Local media have speculated that she and Chapman may have been having an affair before the alleged murder, but reported that she did not work for him.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Novitasari’s parents said they could not understand their daughter’s death, and were sure that she did not take her own life after some media reports suggested she did so after the relationship ended.
Ms Novitasari’s mother, Manisem Syarifuddin, told the paper: “She was a good girl and, out of her £500 earnings a month, she was sending £100 for us to bring up her daughter.
“Mevi was polite to everyone. She would never kill herself. She was a happy girl.”
Officers are said to be working on the theory that Novitasari, originally from Indonesia, was pushed off the edge of the top of the waterfall and then drowned.
Chapman is then said to have fled the scene in a taxi without reporting the incident before travelling to mainland China via high-speed train to Guangzhou.
He did not enter a plea when he made his first appearance in court on Friday, and no request for bail was made.
He is being held in custody until a court hearing in January. A woman was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender but has been freed on bail.
Mevi’s father Saring said his daughter had got divorced four years ago and moved to Hong Kong 17 months ago for work.
He told the Mail: ‘I don’t know if it was murder or an accident. But Mevi was planning to come home soon while she awaited renewal of her Hong Kong visa.
“Days before her death, she had called home to say she was preparing to return. But communication was cut off on the Monday evening before her expected departure, making us increasingly worried.”
She had been excited to see her young daughter, he added, saying: “We just hope the investigation will reveal the truth and we can bring her body back for a proper burial.”
