Singapore couple who dumped baby wanted in Taiwan for murder

A Singaporean couple who allegedly dumped a newborn baby in the trash during a trip to Taipei two years ago have been placed on Taiwan's wanted list on suspicion of murder, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The couple allegedly left the baby girl with placenta and umbilical cord still attached in a recycling bin in the capital in February 2019.

A recycling company employee later found the girl's body wrapped in a garbage bag.

Prosecutors told AFP that Li Heng Xun, 25, and Evon Kay Pei Yee, 26, were both being sought for murder and a charge of abandonment.

Singaporean media had given a slightly different spelling for the man's name, referring to him as Heng Xunli.

Taiwan sometimes faces difficulties in pressing extradition requests, because many countries do not treat it as a sovereign nation -- especially those with close links to China, which regards the island as part of its territory.

On Wednesday, Taiwan's Apple Daily reported that Singaporean authorities had refused multiple requests to provide the couple's DNA samples citing "inconvenience due to the coronavirus pandemic".

Prosecutors declined to comment on that report when contacted by AFP.

The case bears some resemblance to that of a Hong Kong man who is wanted in Taiwan for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend.

Chan Tong-kai has admitted killing his girlfriend in a Taipei hotel room during a Valentine's holiday to the city in February 2018.

Currently in Hong Kong, he has expressed a willingness to surrender himself.

But he remains free as Taiwan and Hong Kong argue over the handling of his case.

That murder inadvertently led to the huge democracy protests that swept through Hong Kong in 2019 over a now-scrapped bill to allow extraditions to mainland China.

Taiwanese media reported that the Singaporean couple were believed to have dumped the girl's body seven days after they arrived in Taiwan.

They then flew back to Singapore the same day.

Local media has aired CCTV footage of a man carrying a black plastic bag walking in an alley and a pregnant woman in a convenience store, identifying them as the two Singaporeans.

Police reportedly found blood traces in the bathroom of their hotel room that matched the baby's.