CCTV links murder suspect to victims
A garda witness has told a double murder trial that the accused man identified himself on video footage that the prosecution alleges links him to the crime.
Mr Yu Jie (25), with a last address at McKee Avenue, Finglas, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of English language student Ms Liu Qing (19) in an apartment at Blackhall Square, off North King St., Dublin 7, between 6pm on March 12th 2001 and 3am on March 14th 2001.
He has also denied the murder of Ms Liu's boyfriend, Mr Yue Feng (19) between 1pm on March 12th and 3am on March 14th in the same place.
On the 38th day of evidence in the Central Criminal Court trial, the jury heard that in interviews with gardai when he was arrested on March 22nd 2001, the accused man identified himself in a number of images taken from CCTV footage of the entrance lobby to the deceased couple's apartment at times between March 12th and March 14th.
He also identified himself in security footage at the USIT student travel office on Aston Quay.
Detective Garda John Carroll told Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, that Yu Jie examined still photographs taken from the CCTV footage and told gardai, "That's me".
The prosecution has alleged that the man shown on the CCTV footage is "the culprit" for the double murder.
The footage shows the man identified as Yu Jie with the deceased Yue Feng the last time Mr Yue was seen alive on March 12th.
It also allegedly shows him leaving the apartment building minutes before a fire exploded in the apartment bedroom where the deceased couple's bodies were found.
In an interview with gardai, the accused man allegedly first said that the last time he was in the Blackhall Square apartment was before Yue Feng and his girlfriend Liu Qing left for a visit to China in early 2001.
But later, he told gardai that before he went to China, Yue Feng gave him a set of keys to the apartment.
Asked did he still have the keys, Yu Jie told gardai: "No, I have thrown out the keys. In the Liffey. I threw the keys into the river. I was afraid..." He then told gardai he wanted an opportunity to tell everything from the beginning.
He said that Yue Feng asked him to visit him in Blackhall Square on March 12th, after Yue Feng returned from China. Yue Feng said he had "trouble", the accused said.
He said Yue Feng wanted to buy Chinese ink paintings while he was in China but he had failed. "Some people" had given him a lot of money to buy the paintings, but when he got to China he spent it, according to Yu Jie.
He said Yue Feng told him that he thought his father would replace the money but because business was not good at the time, his father did not give him the money. Yu Jie told gardai that Yue Feng asked him would he loan him the money, and that he asked for "10,000". Yu Jie said he did not have the money.
He told gardai that he talked about the paintings with Yue Feng during his visit on March 12th, and that when he left the apartment, both Mr Yue and Liu Qing were still alive. He said he returned to the apartment the next day and again, later that night, because he was worried about Yue Feng.
When he visited the apartment on the morning of the 13th, he found the bedroom door locked, he said. Later that night, he went there again but as he got to the apartment door, he heard an explosion, he said.
Yu Jie told gardai that when he heard the explosion, he got a shock. Then a neighbour came to their door and he thought he would get into trouble, so he left.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Abbott and a jury.
