Identity of man whose body was fished from harbour after storm “highly likely” determined by police

The police believe they have identified the man whose body was found in Sai Kung harbour after the typhoon. Senior Inspector Jacky Chan said “it’s highly likely” the deceased is a 75-year-old Chinese man who went missing from Tuen Mun on 15 September after a dispute with his family. Jacky, who is operations chief at Sai Kung station, said a surgical scar on and screws in the man’s neck plus a missing tooth were key indicators of his identity. “Still we can’t be 100% sure until we have the DNA analysis result” in about six weeks.

The case history and action taken so far, as reported by the police:

• On 2018-09-19, the missing person’s son contacted Regional Missing Persons Unit New Territories North (RMPU NTN) after he had learned from media about the “Dead body found” case in Sai Kung Division.

RMPU NTN showed the son photos of the unidentified dead body. The son said it shared great resemblance to his father.
Other family members said, apart from his octopus card (non-personalised) and bag, all personal belongings were left at home.
CID of Wong Tai Sin Division had viewed the CCTV at Miami Beach Towers and confirmed that missing person had left home alone at 1754 hrs on 2018-09-15.

• Corpse identification by the missing person’s son and daughter was arranged at Fu Shan Mortuary in the morning on 2018-09-20.

The surgical scar at the back of the neck of the dead body (due to surgery after a traffic accident 10 years ago), the missing front tooth and the brand of the shirt (“BOY” in size XXL) worn by the dead body all matched with the missing person.

• An autopsy conducted by Dr. Fu Ka-chung in the morning on 2018-09-20 at Fu Shan Mortuary disclosed no suspicious element. Some surgical screws were found at the back of the neck of the deceased, which resonates with the medical background of the missing person.

An attempt was made to obtain fingerprints and footprints from the deceased but in vain as the skin on the hands and feet of deceased had completely peeled off.
Dr. Fu stated that there was no means to surface (sic) the ethnicity of the deceased at this stage.
Some pleural cavity fluid and muscle tissue were obtained for DNA profiling and toxicology examination.

• Way forward:

DNA samples of the deceased were sent to Government Lab for examination and profiling.
DNA samples from the son will be obtained for comparison ( parentage testing).