Hong Kong - A woman killed her 14-month-old baby and then jumped to her death with the child in her arms from the 37th floor of her apartment in Hong Kong, police said Saturday. The 31-year-old woman is believed to have killed herself and the child because her husband was having an affair.
Police were called to the scene by the woman's father Friday who said his daughter had told him she had killed the baby and was going to kill herself.
They arrived to find the bodies of the mother and child on the pavement below her 37th floor apartment. The woman had knife wounds to her wrist.
Police said they found six suicide notes written to her husband and relatives which led them to believe the woman was distraught over an affair her husband was having.
Figures show May and June to be the peak months for suicides in Hong Kong with around 10 to 13 per cent more people taking their lives during these months than any other time in the year.
Around 1,000 people committed suicide in the former British colony in 2007, down from around 1,200 in 2003 in the dark days of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).
Jumping from buildings is the most likely form of suicide in the high-rise city, followed by inhalation of fumes from burning charcoal.
