Chinese murder victim's girlfriend speaks of alleged intruder
The girlfriend of a Chinese man allegedly murdered with a meat cleaver by an intruder told a Central Criminal Court jury her boyfriend stumbled into her room bleeding at the chest.
Xiau Wen Zhou told Mr George Birmingham SC, prosecuting, that she heard a noise "like somebody pushing or lifting something full force", then silence. Mr Song then staggered into her room and collapsed by the bed.
It was day four of the trial of Derek Wade (aged 27) of Church Avenue, Rialto, Dublin, who denies murdering Zhi Song (aged 23) at Ruben Avenue, South Circular Road, Dublin on June 29, 2005. He also denies attempting to rob the purse of Xiau Wen Zhou on the same occasion.
The parents of the victim wept as Ms Zhou was asked to identify the kinds of knives used in the incident.
She had recently started going out with the victim although they had shared a house for nine months before this. On the night of the incident they held a barbecue for another couple at the house they shared with four other Chinese nationals.
Their guests left at around 9.30pm and the couple watched a film together before going to bed in their separate bedrooms. Ms Zhou, also known as Tracy, fell asleep quickly but woke up when she heard someone open the door of her room.
Being high summer it was almost light and she said she could see it was not her friend. She realised he was holding two blades, one "square" and one "long". She thought she recognised the knives from the kitchen downstairs.
She initially spoke to him in her native language but when she realised the man was Irish she spoke to him in English. He said: "Shut up! I don't want to hurt you. Give me your purse."
She told him to leave the room so that she could get dressed and he reluctantly moved towards the door. Mr Song came out of his bedroom and the man ran out. She stayed sitting on the bed, afraid to move.
A couple of seconds later she said she heard the noise "like someone pushing or lifting something"
Then Mr Song staggered into her room.
Ms Zhou told the court she put her hand on her friend's chest but could not stop the bleeding. Her housemates called the emergency services but Mr Song could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead on arrival at St James's Hospital.
Several days later she was asked to attend an identity parade. She picked out Mr Wade but said he had changed his hair, "even his eyebrows".
