The Gold Coast Bulletin

Party at unit before fatal balcony plunge

- SUZANNE SIMONOT AND KATE PARASKEVOS

POLICE are investigat­ing how a woman fell to her death from a Gold Coast apartment tower where a party is believed to have been held on the weekend.

The 32-year-old woman’s body was found in the grounds of Eleve, a new luxury 63-apartment complex on Palm Meadows Dr, Carrara, about 3am on Saturday.

Initial investigat­ions suggest the woman fell from the balcony of one of the units and struck another balcony below before landing in a garden bed on the ground level.

Her fall is believed to have been from at least the fifth floor and possibly as high as the seventh.

Shocked neighbours rushed to the woman’s aid as they waited for emergency services to arrive.

The woman’s partner, who was believed to have been inside the apartment when she fell, was taken to hospital suffering shock.

Police declared a crime scene at the site and launched an investigat­ion into the circumstan­ces surroundin­g the tragic incident.

Detectives returned to the scene yesterday to interview residents.

Police believe a group of people had been partying in the apartment before the woman fell.

Building resident Sherry Handcock, who moved into the block in January, said her dogs woke her up barking around 1.30am.

“There was a bit of a party going on and you could just hear the bass of the music and my dogs were barking,” she said.

“It wasn’t really loud or anything but you could hear it faintly.

“I went back to sleep and only found out about what happened when I went to walk my dogs this morning and saw police officers talking to residents here.

“It’s very traumatic.” Ms Handcock said apartment block was new.

“Everyone here has basically just moved in,” she said.

“My friend lives right near the relatively that apartment (where the woman fell from) and said she didn’t hear anything either and only found out later what had happened.

“Everyone is really nice here, there’s a good variety of people, lots of young couples live here so it’s very sad.”

Other residents said they slept through the commotion, oblivious to the tragedy that was unfolding.

The $120 million, 63apartmen­t Eleve Residences building is set within Palm Meadows’ exclusive golfing enclave at Carrara.

 ?? Picture: MIKE BATTERHAM ?? The Eleve Residences at Palm Meadows where a woman died after a balcony fall in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Picture: MIKE BATTERHAM The Eleve Residences at Palm Meadows where a woman died after a balcony fall in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Australia