An anti-Asian hate crime group is expressing concerns a woman found decapitated after being missing since June 11 may be a victim of a hate crime, reports Devon Live.
Police found the body of 67-year-old Mee Kuen Chong in Salcombe, Britain on June 27.
“It’s very hard to say at this stage but we definitely think it could have been a racially motivated matter,” said Hau-Yu Tam, the chair of anti-race-hate campaign group End the Virus of Racism. “There is a lot of soft-pedalling around race hate crimes.”
Devon and Cornwall Police both say they are keeping an open mind.
“The death is being treated as unexplained and we are and will keep an open mind to the circumstances that led to the discovery of the body,” police said in a statement.
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Chong has been living in the Wembley area of London since 2004. Some of those who knew here described her as “vulnerable.”
“She’s a member of a church, very religious, otherwise pleasant,” said a neighbor who asked not to be identified to the Harrow Times. “I think we saw her the week she disappeared, two days before my wife saw her walking down the street – she didn’t look too good, but said she was out for some exercise.”
The neighbor said Chong does not have family in Britain, but does have a sister in Malaysia.
“She’s never gone missing before. She doesn’t go away at all. You wonder how someone who was struggling to walk managed to get down to Devon,” he said.
Tam had tried to drum up publicity about Chong’s disappearance, and had expressed concerns about the lack of media coverage.
“There are questions to answer about why there wasn’t more rallying around and sharing after her disappearance that the London East and South East Asian community want answered,” Tam said.
“The fact that it’s being reported that she was found without her head is obviously distressing people a lot.”
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