S'porean man appears in Spanish court; possible romantic link cited

MADRID - A Singaporean man has been remanded after appearing in court in Spain on April 19 in connection with the death of Singaporean architect Audrey Fang, who had gone missing last week while on holiday and was found with multiple stab wounds.

- Graham Keeley

The 43-year-old suspect, who has not been named, as is the custom in Spain, appeared in a court in Murcia in south-eastern Spain.

He was photographed being led by two Spanish Civil Guard officers into court, in handcuffs.

Ms Fang's body was found with signs of an assault with a "bladed weapon", the Spanish Civil Guard told The Straits Times.

Ms Fang, 39, was reportedly stabbed more than 30 times.

The court magistrate on April 19 said that her body can be returned to her family for repatriation to Singapore. An autopsy was completed by forensic scientists, but the results have not been made public.

Her body was found on April 10 at a lorry park in Abanilla, a municipality in the Murcia region, around 150km away or about two hours' drive from her hotel in Xabia, also in south-eastern Spain, where she was seen alive on April 9 at 8.45pm closed-circuit television on (CCTV) cameras.

The Civil Guard, which is one of Spain's two national police forces, said on April 19: "Police collected information and images from CCTV cameras at the hotel and found out that she was picked up by a vehicle when she left the hotel the day before her death." The footage was too dark to get precise information about the car, but the police managed to identify the make and model by analysing its size and design details.