A 36-year-old man has been charged with the first-degree murder of his ex-wife whose body was found in the Outer Cove area earlier this week.

The accused, whose name is being withheld to protect the victim’s identity, has also been charged with kidnapping and breaches of court orders.

He appeared by telephone, along with a translator, in provincial court this afternoon to have the charges formally read to him.

The accused remains under police watch in hospital after suffering what are believed to be self-inflected wounds prior to his arrest.

VOCM News has learned the accused is no stranger to the courts, with more than a dozen other charges already pending, including death threats, assaults causing bodily harm, assaults with a weapon, and forcible confinement.

Police were called to an abandoned, run-down home on Liam Drive around 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, where the victim’s body was discovered.

The exact cause of death is still under investigation by the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office.

RNC say the victim was last seen in the area of Middleton Street, in the capital city’s east end, between 8:00 and 8:30 Tuesday morning.

Police continue to seek dash cam or surveillance video from the Middleton Street area at the aforementioned times, as well as information on a blue, four-door Hyundai Elantra that travelled from Middleton Street to Liam Drive, where the woman’s body was found.