A man allegedly fled an apartment complex in downtown Auckland after a woman fell to her death from a balcony, according to a witness.
A unidentified guest at Auckland Harbour Suites on Gore St told Stuff he heard an altercation at about 3:30am, and went to investigate after he heard a woman screaming.
He said he saw a woman lying motionless on the awning above the ground-level shops.
Shortly after, the witness spotted a shirtless man bolting from the apartment complex, pursued by six or seven police officers. He was unable to see if the man was apprehended.
Brad Morrow, a student who lives in the Gore St apartment block, told Newshub his partner also woke to loud screaming at roughly 3:30am.
The two had a clear view of the woman's body on the awning, Morrow said, with a pool of blood around her head.
He believes the victim fell from a ninth-floor apartment regularly used for partying, and claimed his partner had seen a number of young women in the elevator earlier in the night carrying alcoholic beverages.
When emergency services arrived at the scene, paramedics scaled the awning and attempted to revive the woman, Morrow said. About 20 minutes later more screaming was heard as the alleged partygoers congregated outside the complex, and the body was covered.
She was eventually removed at about 7:30am.
Morrow said among the noises of distress a woman may have shouted, "why did that happen to my sister".
The death has been classified as "unexplained", according to an earlier police statement.
Officers were called to a residential address on the Auckland Central street at roughly 3:40am on Sunday following a sudden death, the spokesperson said.
Enquiries are underway, although authorities have remained tight-lipped on the circumstances of the death. No information has been officially released regarding the identity of the deceased.
Cordons have since been lifted and a scene examination is set to be undertaken. One unmarked patrol vehicle was parked outside the Auckland Harbour Suites apartment complex early on Sunday morning, Stuff reports, and the body had been removed by 8am.
The lavish SO/ Auckland hotel, currently serving as a managed isolation facility, is located opposite the complex.
