Man remanded over attempted murder of woman at Cotai hotel

[Photo: Nadia Shaw]

A mainland Chinese man has been remanded in custody on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly attacking a woman with several sharp weapons in a vehicle outside a hotel on Avenida Marginal Flor de Lótus, the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) said in a statement on Aug. 8.

This comes as the Judiciary Police (PJ) said at a special press conference Aug. 7 that the 41-year-old man had been transferred to the MP after the attack, which occurred at about 8:50 p.m. Aug. 5 at the lobby entrance of a hotel in Cotai.

There, police said, the victim had arranged to meet two mainland Chinese women regarding the private sale of a hotel loyalty-point room. She entered a black seven-seat vehicle parked outside the hotel’s lobby, where a male driver and the two women were waiting.

The suspect, identified by his surname, Chan, then allegedly followed her into the vehicle and repeatedly attacked her in the head and neck area with sharp weapons.

“She kept shouting for help, and the people in the car immediately fled and sought assistance from the hotel security guards,” PJ spokesperson Leong Kuok Hei said. “Within tens of seconds, the security guards arrived, entered the vehicle and worked together to subdue the suspect.”

Aside from the female victim, a Nepalese security guard was injured in the arm while helping restrain Chan. The security guard and the female victim were taken to a hospital on Wednesday.

“According to the examination reports from emergency-room doctors and forensic doctors, the female victim suffered multiple cuts to the left side of her neck, the back of her neck, her lower lip, jaw, left hand and right hand. Some of the wounds measured between 10 and 20 centimeters and were consistent with injuries caused by sharp weapons,” the PJ spokesperson said.

“The injuries caused the victim to suffer hemorrhagic shock and constituted serious bodily harm,” police said, adding that her condition was stable, but she remained unconscious and under medication at the time of the press conference. Therefore, investigators have not yet been able to take her statement.

At Friday’s special press conference, the PJ displayed evidence recovered from the scene and from the suspect. The evidence included two box cutters, a utility knife, two separate blades and bloodstained white clothing worn by the suspect during the attack.

Officers also displayed a cutlery set that the suspect took from his hotel room to use in the attack.

Police said a mobile phone was also found outside the car, while blood was discovered on the vehicle’s left side and on a second-row passenger seat.

Describing the motive and relationship between the suspect and the victim, PJ said Chan and the mainland Chinese woman met in Macau in May 2025 and became romantically involved two months later.

According to PJ, the suspect told investigators that he had seen the woman communicating with other men and believed she had deceived him. He also claimed to have spent a large amount of money during the relationship, including on dating expenses and expensive gifts. Police emphasized that those claims came solely from Chan and had not been independently verified.

During the special press conference, reporters questioned whether the attack involved a dispute over a specific sum of money. In response, PJ said they had not found evidence of a money-related transaction and were still investigating Chan’s claims about his spending.

Asked whether the couple had formally broken up, police said there had been no explicit breakup.

Reporters also asked whether Chan had bought the knives after seeing the victim with another man. Police said investigators had found evidence that he had been monitoring her movements for several days.

At about 3 p.m. on the day of the attack, he allegedly traveled to a shop in Taipa and bought two box cutters before returning to his hotel room to take a knife and fork. PJ said it was still determining whether Chan saw the victim that day before purchasing the weapons.

The evidence indicated that the attack had been planned, authorities said. “Based on the overall investigation, there are strong indications that the suspect deliberately bought the weapons in advance and used them to attack areas of the victim’s body, including her head and neck, where injuries could be fatal,” Leong explained.

Chan and the victim entered Macau separately on July 30 and July 31, police said.

Upon the recommendation of the MP, the Criminal Investigation Court ordered that he be held in preventive detention, concluding that there were strong indications that he had committed the crime of attempted murder, as provided for and punishable under Article 128 of the Penal Code. The decision took into account factors including the nature and seriousness of the alleged acts, the modus operandi, the motive and the possibility that he could flee Macau.

In accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, the MP will continue to direct the subsequent investigation.