THE man involved in a dramatic 12-hour stand-off with police after refusing to move from a high-rise ledge allegedly assaulted a woman hours before she was found dead in an alleyway.
June Oh Seo, 37, was this afternoon charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm after being plucked off the 26th storey high-rise awning on Monday night.
The body of a 34-year-old Hee Kyung Choi, who lived in the complex, was discovered by a group of tradies in an alleyway below him.
She was face down in a “pool of blood” and police say her injuries were consistent with falling from the building.
It is alleged she fell in the early hours of the morning and some point before Seo assaulted her.
Just a little while after she was found, a visibly distressed man climbed onto an awning of the 26th floor, located just below the communal gym and swimming pool, dressed in a white T-shirt and grey tracksuit pants.
A Korean interpreter was brought to the scene to help the efforts of police negotiators but the man refused to budge. As the morning temperature climbed towards 30C, the man was handed a cigarette and a bottle of water, but still would not move.
The matter was adjourned this afternoon to next Friday where he will appear via video link.
Bail was not applied for and it was formally refused.
Magistrate Daniel Reiss mentioned the possibility of how there could be potential for further charges.
Seo’s lawyer refused to answer questions from reporters outside court.
Court papers allege that between 4.30am and 4.35am Seo assaulted Ms Choi thereby occasioning actual bodily harm to her.
Neighbour Ling Cai said the dead woman was quiet and lived on the 23rd floor of the apartment block.
“I bumped into her a couple of times in the lift but she was really quiet,” she said, adding the whole situation was very sad.
She said the woman had moved in to the one-bedroom apartment in the last three to six months.
Police have confirmed that Oh Seo knew the woman, who they believe fell some time between 4am and 6am on Monday.
The revelations came after police rescue officers managed to pull the man off the Perspex roof after he was noticed climbing up there at 7am from the communal gym.
He was then taken to Royal North Shore Hospital for treatment, before being taken to Chatswood police station where he was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm relating to an “earlier incident”.