SINGAPORE: Spain’s immigration police have requested that a Singaporean man suspected of killing a compatriot in the country be deported to Singapore, the media there reported on Friday (May 2).
Mitchell Ong is suspected of killing Audrey Fang while she was on holiday in Spain. Her body was found with more than 30 stab wounds in April 2024.
The Comisaria General de Extranjeria y Fronteras, which is part of the Spanish National Police, requested that Ong be deported from the country since he was there illegally, Spanish media outlet La Verdad reported.
It also asked that he be barred from re-entering the country for 10 years.
The private prosecution representing Ms Fang’s family has agreed with this deportation request, reported Spanish news site La Opinion de Murcia.
In Spain, victims can hire lawyers to act as private prosecutors and they can bring evidence, request statements or call for charges, among other things. They are separate from the public prosecution.
Ong is now remanded in Sangonera prison in Murcia, La Opinion de Murcia reported.
Defence lawyer Maria Jesus Ruiz de Castaneda told CNA on Sunday morning that she had opposed the deportation request.
She said that this was not a formal deportation request, but rather an “administrative expulsion procedure”.
“Naturally, we have opposed the proposed expulsion, as the Spanish courts have jurisdiction to try the alleged offence,” Ms Maria added.
Ong is involved in active criminal proceedings in Spain, where he must be judged with all due legal guarantees, the lawyer argued, stating that the extradition would represent an unacceptable evasion of the Spanish judicial process.
She also said Ong’s expulsion went against the European Convention on Human Rights and noted that “no final judgment has been issued”.