A 19-year-old female visitor from Japan is believed to have been assaulted and robbed in her hotel room in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, after she invited a man she had just connected with on WeChat for an in-person chat.
Travelling solo, the young woman had checked into a hotel on Nathan Road on August 4 and had been staying there ever since. She made acquaintance with an unknown man via WeChat on the night of Monday, August 10, and subsequently asked him to her hotel room.
Shortly after she opened the door at around 9:35 p.m., the male suspect entered the room and launched an attack on her.
Insider reports stated that the tourist had kept roughly HK$15,000 (equivalent to US$1,900) in cash inside the hotel room’s safe. The offender allegedly covered the woman’s head with a black plastic bag, strangled her, stole the cash from the safe, and then fled the scene immediately.
Following the ordeal, the victim filed a police report. She suffered soreness in her neck as a result of the attack but refused to receive medical treatment at a hospital.
Law enforcement officers conducted a site search in the surrounding area but failed to track down the perpetrator. The case has been categorised as a robbery and assault offence, with the Yau Tsim District Crime Investigation Team 3 taking charge of the ongoing probe.
Police have released a description of the suspect: a Chinese male aged 30 to 40, standing around 1.75 metres tall with an average body build. At the time of the crime, he was dressed in a dark long-sleeve shirt, dark pants, a white cap and a white face mask.
This incident serves as a vital warning for all independent travellers. Members of the public are advised to stay vigilant when meeting strangers they first get to know online, especially when it comes to inviting unfamiliar individuals into private hotel accommodation.
