A Korean man perched on a balcony roof at the top of a Sydney high-rise building has been arrested after a dramatic 12-hour siege.
Police negotiators, a translator and rescue officers were with the man on the 26th floor of the Chatswood apartment building since 6.30am on Monday, shortly after a woman’s body was found below.
With the temperature hitting almost 30C, negotiators handed the man a cigarette and a bottle of water just after 11am, but were unable to coax him inside until 7.30pm.
A Korean man perched on a balcony roof at the top of a Sydney high-rise building has been arrested after a dramatic 12-hour siege
He has been taken into custody.
Daily Mail Australia understands the man and the deceased woman were in a relationship, but were not married.
It is believed the woman’s body was not removed because the man had still been considered a safety risk.
He had been seen staring into the distance or looking down towards his partner’s dead body.
The site has been cordoned off as police negotiators continue to talk with the man at the top of the building. A representative from the Korean consulate has just arrived at the scene.
Earlier, a man revealed the terrifying moment he found the body of the woman.
Luke Hamilton was dropping his friend off at Chatswood Station when they saw a lifeless body lying in an alleyway Monday morning.
Mr Hamilton told Daily Mail Australia he wanted to help the woman who he thought had passed out the night before.
‘I thought I’d try and wake her up and try and get her home,’ he said.
Just before 4pm Monday, police were seen to be on the roof with the man (pictured)
The man was found on the roof after the body of a 25-year-old woman was discovered nearby
A man has revealed the terrifying moment he found the body of a 25-year-old woman in Sydney’s north, moments after a man refuses to come down from nearby roof (pictured)
Luke Hamilton was dropping his friend off at Chatswood Station when they saw a lifeless body lying in an alleyway Monday morning near the apartment building (pictured)
Mr Hamilton told Daily Mail Australia he wanted to help the woman, who he initially thought had passed out the night before, when he found her in nearby alleyway
However, as Mr Hamilton got closer he saw the woman face down in a pool of blood
‘As we got closer we saw the blood smeared down the wall.
‘We found her face down on the ground.’
After initially thinking the woman needed help, Mr Hamilton, who was with his roommates at the time, said he was terrified to realise she was dead.
‘We saw blood on the wall and assumed she’d been … clambering for life,’ he said.
Mr Hamilton told Daily Mail Australia he wanted to help the woman, who he initially thought had passed out the night before
‘As we got closer we saw the blood smeared down the wall. We found her face down on the ground,’ Mr Hamilton said
Mr Hamilton said it was terrifying to realise she was dead after seeing the ‘pool of blood under her face’ (pictured Chatswood apartment building)
Shortly after woman’s body was found, a Korean man (pictured) appeared distressed on a roof
‘There was a pool of blood under her face.
‘It’s so sad .. so tragic.
‘It was really nerve wracking for a fragile Monday morning.’
Mr Hamilton said he blocked the alleyway off with his ute until police arrived at about 6.30am.
Shortly after the woman’s body was found, a Korean man appeared distressed on the roof of a nearby balcony as police tried to negotiate with him.
The man demanded a cigarette from police as he refused to come down from a roof.
The man, who appeared agitated, was crouched at the edge of the high-rise apartment block on the 26th floor in Sydney’s north shore and has been there for more than 10 hours.
The man was seen gripping the edge of the glass roof as he held his head in his hands.
The man has been sitting on the roof of nearby balcony as police try to negotiate with him
The distressed man was crouched at the edge of a see-through roof above one of the building’s highest balconies (pictured)
Police brought in a translator to help negotiate with the man, who has been on roof for hours
The man demanded a cigarette from police as he refused to come down from the roof
A Korean translator arrived at the crime scene just before 10am to help negotiate with the man, who could be seen pacing along the balcony and gesturing with his hands.
Police sources told Daily Mail Australia that the woman fell from a 21st floor balcony, five floors under where the Korean man is perched.
Her body remains at the scene, covered by a police forensic pop-up structure, while specialist negotiators try and talk the man down from his location, directly above the body.
The man can be seen perched on the edge of the awning, staring down at where the body is lying.
The man can be seen gripping the edge of the glass roof hanging his head over the edge
It appears the man has taken off his shoes and is peering down off the edge of the roof
Mr Hamilton found the body in an alleyway in Chatswood at about 6.15 Monday morning
Police have been unable to remove the body because of the man’s presence above it.
Hundreds of school children from Chatswood High and Chatswood Public School began streaming down nearby Victoria Avenue shortly after 3.20pm.
Many of them stopped to point and stare. Some filmed the scene on their smart phones.
As temperatures soar to 29C in Sydney, there are fears for the man’s health as he has been on the roof since about 7am.
Rohan Pulakhandam who works at the nearby Hoyts cinema saw the man just after 11am.
‘As soon as I saw the man it was just gut-wrenching,’ Mr Pulakhandam told Australian Associated Press.
It is not confirmed whether the two incidents in Chatswood at Brown St are related
Police are investigating the cause of the woman’s death as it was not immediately clear
‘The fact that he’s been sitting for so long in the heat wit the sun shining directly on him – he mustn’t be feeling very good.’
Police received a call around 6.30am on Monday that a body of a woman was found in Sydney’s north.
It was reported the alleyway is connected to a vacant block of land.
However, it is unknown whether the man on the roof is related to the woman’s dead body.
The public have been advised to avoid the area, however a crowd of onlookers have been watching and filming.