An Auckland man is set to appear in court this morning charged with murdering Ellerslie couple Fuk-Fu Kwok and Mei Han Chong.
The man charged with their murder is a 42-year-old from Auckland’s Glenfield suburb, court documents show. He does not share their surname or appear to be a relative.
Police located the man in Hamilton last night.
He is charged with murdering the couple by stabbing them to death on November 5.
He will appear before Judge Andrea Manuel after 10am in the Auckland District Court, a court registrar confirmed.
Detective Inspector Scott Beard, speaking to media today, confirmed Mei Han Chong had been found dead.
Her body was found in the Auckland suburb of Greenhithe in a bush area in the dark overnight.
“I have to thank our outstanding police team, who worked all night,” Beard said.
”We have a team now conducting the scene examination.”
Beard said police discovered suspicious activity on the night of the homicide and scoured hours and hours of CCTV footage that allowed them to locate Chong.
“We’re devastated to locate Mrs Chong in these circumstances and are providing support to their son, who has lost both his father and his mother.
“There are uncles and aunties around but at the moment he is an only child,” Beard said, talking about the anguish and stress he is suffering.
Beard said there was no indication the offender had tried to leave the country, and at this stage police were not ruling out further charges.
The investigation is ongoing and a lot of work has been done overnight and we are still trying to piece that together, Beard said.
Beard added he is not going to go into too many details as the matter is before the court.
The couple’s car was located on Hall Rd in Glenfield with its number plates changed, only a two minute drive away from where the police are stationed in front of a home.
Kereru Grove appears to be the location where Chong’s body was found in bush, and is now the scene of a police investigation.
Two police stand guard in front of crime scene tape where forensic investigators in boiler suits are examining an area of bush at the bottom of Kereru Grove.
Detective inspector Scott Beard is also at the scene alongside around ten other police and investigators.
Beard said the homicide investigation continues in Ellerslie but police have a number of other scenes to investigate.
Beard, who is heading the investigation, had been due to appear on The AM Show and TVNZ’s Breakfast morning TV shows today morning but pulled out at the last minute as he instead fronted a press conference on the new developments.
Registered nurse Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok was found unresponsive at his Ellerslie property on Monday night by a family member. He was pronounced dead at the scene by police.
Police subsequently had feared for the life of Kwok’s 67-year-old wife, Mei Han Chong.
Police revealed his injuries were “violent and consistent with foul play” and launched a homicide investigation.
Beard said Kwok suffered multiple stab wounds. The killing was described as “quite brutal”.
Beard said the nature of the injuries suggested more than one person was involved, but said no links to organised crime had been found.
Police believed the homicide happened after midnight on Saturday. The couple’s son earlier told police his mother’s disappearance was “totally out of character”.
Chong did not drive so police said it was likely someone had driven her away. The state of the house indicated Chong did not leave the East Auckland home willingly.
Beard had suggested the killing was a “targeted attack” and had appealed for anyone who had seen or heard from Chong.
A workmate of Kwok visited the Celtic Crescent house this week and left flowers on the driveway.
She told the Herald that Kwok used the name Joseph at his job as an orthopaedic nurse at North Shore Hospital.
Anyone with information that may assist police inquiries is asked to contact police via 105, quoting file number 231106/8053. Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.