The Daily Telegraph<\/a> it happened shortly after the pair had discussed separating.<\/p>\nThe couple were staying in the $500-a-night Ch\u00e2teau de Perreux boutique hotel in the Nazelles-N\u00e9gron area of central France on July 28.<\/p>\n
They had enjoyed a pleasant dinner and spa before going to sleep and Mr Forbes was caught completely off-guard by the alleged attack while fast asleep. <\/p>\n
\u201cStrangely I kept sleeping but I was burned, badly burned,\u201d he told The Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still thought I was in a nightmare until I looked down and saw blood everywhere on the floor – it was like a murder scene. I started screaming for help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Cao, 37, then a banker employed by ING, allegedly fled the scene and was later arrested by French authorities 500km away at the Belgian border following a 36-hour manhunt.<\/p>\n
The couple had checked into the boutique venue\u2019s \u201ccave rooms\u201d \u2014 carved into the cliff adjacent to the hotel \u2014 for a one-night stopover as part of a European holiday which was to culminate in their attendance at World Pride Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
Guests and staff reported screams from the hotel room. Mr Forbes was found by hotel staff.<\/p>\n
Authorities allege Mr Cao fled the hotel in a rental car, travelling three hours north to Rouen before boarding a train to Paris, and then onto Lille near the Belgian border where he was arrested as he disembarked the train.<\/p>\n
He was charged with attempted murder and is being held in custody awaiting trial.<\/p>\n
French newspaper Ouest France reports Mr Cao is facing other charges including kidnapping, theft, torture and acts of barbarity.<\/p>\n
La Nouvelle Republique, citing a source close to the investigation, reports Mr Cao admitted to the attack but not intending to kill his partner.<\/p>\n
Mr Forbes is receiving consular assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), a spokesman confirmed to news.com.au.<\/p>\n
DFAT said it was also \u201cseeking to make contact with an Australian detained in France to offer consular assistance\u201d.\u201cOwing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n
Mr Cao worked at ING as head of retail value creation at the time of the incident, but is no longer employed by the bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are aware of allegations involving a former employee,\u201d an ING spokesman told news.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u2014 with Frank Chung<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Sydney<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Sydney entrepreneur has described the moment his boyfriend allegedly assaulted him with boiling water and a saucepan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[98401,73723,38320,98406,105206,105207,104680,98403,98445,105219,98448,104701,46650,98423,42186,104672,98424,98430,98400,40881,105215,90452,8006,105208,93994,98426,65763,19269,22,105214,105218,21,98442,41986,13937,98936,104691,98447,35672,38242,3743,17665,35812,56612,1745,98407,67157,15876,105211,105210,39808,105205,52344,105216,105212,104658,104689,98439,105221,105213,846,98425,98440,98438,98941,37007,98415,98444,98431,2891,3121,22423,1047,98408,98428,98420,104684,105217,105222,7738,98922,104669,51678,40726,50317,98437,98422,98432,3763,39084,38609,44197,72720,36531,41012,37772,98443,37068,37168,105220,36556,98436,18149,98416,39201,98441,98412,13160,105209],"class_list":["post-73536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-cave-rooms","tag-ing","tag-38320","tag-500km","tag-a-36-hour-manhunt-the-couple","tag-a-banker","tag-a-burst-eardrum","tag-a-european-holiday","tag-a-former-employee","tag-a-harrowing-image","tag-a-luxury-french-villa","tag-a-murder-scene","tag-a-nightmare","tag-a-one-night-stopover","tag-a-photo","tag-a-pleasant-dinner-and-spa","tag-a-rental-car","tag-a-saucepan","tag-a-source-close","tag-a-spokesman","tag-a-sydney-entrepreneur","tag-a-train","tag-allegations","tag-alleged-saucepan-attack","tag-an-australian","tag-an-ing-spokesman","tag-arms","tag-attempted-murder","tag-au","tag-aussie-banker","tag-australian-banker-david-cao","tag-austrlia","tag-barbarity-la-nouvelle-republique","tag-blood","tag-burns","tag-callum-forbes","tag-cao","tag-central-france","tag-consular-assistance","tag-contact","tag-custody","tag-dfat","tag-forbes","tag-foreign-affairs-and-trade","tag-france","tag-french-authorities","tag-further-comment","tag-head","tag-his-banker-boyfriend","tag-his-boyfriend","tag-his-face","tag-his-horrific-injuries","tag-his-injuries","tag-his-partner-mr","tag-his-then-partner","tag-his-torso","tag-hot-water","tag-hotel-staff-authorities","tag-it-mr-forbes","tag-july-28-they","tag-kidnapping","tag-lille","tag-luxury-french-villa","tag-mr-cao","tag-mr-forbes","tag-news-com-au","tag-news-com-au-dfat","tag-other-charges","tag-our-privacy-obligations","tag-paris","tag-part","tag-pic","tag-police","tag-retail-value-creation","tag-rouen","tag-screams","tag-second-degree-burns","tag-separating-the-couple","tag-shock-photo","tag-staff","tag-stitches","tag-the-500-a-night-chateau-de-perreux-boutique-hotel","tag-the-alleged-attack","tag-the-attack","tag-the-bank","tag-the-belgian-border","tag-the-boutique-venue","tag-the-cliff","tag-the-daily-telegraph","tag-the-department","tag-the-floor","tag-the-hotel","tag-the-hotel-room","tag-the-incident","tag-the-investigation","tag-the-moment","tag-the-nazelles-negron-area","tag-the-pair","tag-the-scene","tag-the-spokesman-said-mr","tag-the-time","tag-the-train-he","tag-theft","tag-their-attendance","tag-three-hours","tag-torture-and-acts","tag-trial-french-newspaper-ouest-france","tag-water","tag-world-pride-amsterdam-guests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}