Warlu Harris charged with Tao Cheng’s murder

The identity of one of the men charged with murdering a Chinese national whose lifeless body was tragically found in a Sydney CBD stairwell can now be revealed.

A young man has been charged with murder after a police investigation into the suspicious death of a Chinese national.

Warlu Harris, 25, did not appear via video link as his matter was briefly mentioned in Parramatta Local Court on Friday.

Police arrested Harris and his co-accused after an investigation into the death of Tao Cheng, a 25-year-old Chinese national whose body was tragicallyfound in Sydney’s CBD.

On December 7, emergency services were called to a hotel on Kent St over concerns for Mr Cheng’s welfare.

Police soon found his body in the hotel’s stairwell.

Tao Cheng was found deceased.

A strike force was established to probe the allegedly “suspicious” death and police officers from the Sydney City Police Area Command were assisted by detectives from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad.

Police also shared CCTV footage of two young men they wished to speak to in relation to Mr Cheng’s death.

Police believed these men could assist with their inquiries. Picture: NSW Police.

One of the two men looks directly into the CCTV camera. Picture: NSW Police.

The footage showed the men walking through a doorway and into a hallway while carrying cans of drink.

Following the public appeal, detectives arrested a 27-year-old man at Beamish St, Campsie, last Friday.

The 27-year-old was charged with murder and has been refused bail.

On December 20, detectives arrested Harris with the help of Queensland police.

Harris was extradited to NSW, and then charged with murder at Mascot Police Station.

On Friday Harris did not apply for bail and it was formally refused by Magistrate John McIntosh.

His matter will next be in Downing Centre Local Court on March 13, 2023.