Accused 'on verge of tears' morning after, court told
A man on trial for double murder was "on the verge of tears" when he arrived at the scene of the killings the morning after, a garda witness has told a murder trial jury.
Garda Owen Colbert said a man he now knows to be Yu Jie, who denies the murder of Fue Yeng and Liu Qing at apartments in Dublin almost two years ago, appeared to be "very upset" and was "incoherent" when he arrived at the apartment building on March 14, 2001, when gardai and undertakers were about to remove the couple's bodies.
Yu Jie (aged 25), who is known to some as 'Jack', with a last address at McKee Avenue, Finglas, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Liu Qing (aged 19) in an apartment at Blackhall Square, off North King St., Dublin 7, between 6pm on March 12, 2001 and 3am on March 14, 2001.
Mr Yu also denies the murder of Ms Liu's boyfriend, Mr Yue Feng (aged 19) between 1pm on March 12 and 3am on March 14 in the same place.
Counsel for the DPP alleges that Mr Yu strangled the couple, who were his friends, on March 12, and then returned shortly before 1am on March 14 to burn their bodies in an attempt to conceal what he had done.
Garda Owen Colbert, who was at the time attached to Bridewell garda station, told Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that Yu Jie was amongst two male and two female Chinese nationals who entered the apartment building as the undertakers were preparing to remove the bodies.
Garda Colbert said he informed the four that they could not go to the apartment, and Yu Jie said his friends lived there. Under cross-examination, he told Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC that at the time, there were "numerous" television cameras outside the apartment block. He said he did not know if news of the deaths had already been broadcast.
In other evidence, the duty manager at McDonald's restaurant in Phibsboro on the night of March 13, 2001, Ms Chris Kelly, told the court that she did not think that a mountain bike shown to her in court was the bike that she saw outside the restaurant that night. "I don't think that was the bike I was shown by gardai", she said.
On Wednesday, the jury heard that after he was charged with the double murders, the accused, Yu Jie, told gardai where to locate the bicycle shown in court, which was outside a house in McKelvey Avenue, Finglas.
In other evidence yesterday, Mr Barry Gregg, a former resident of an apartment in Blackhall Square, told Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, that on Tuesday, March 13 at 10.20pm, he parked his car outside the apartment buildings.
He saw two Chinese males sitting in a car. "To me, they looked nervy", he said in a statement to gardai. Mr Gregg told gardai he could not give more particulars and he added, "I cannot describe the vehicle in any way".
Asked to explain his statement, he told Mr O'Carroll, "They just caught my eye... They basically stopped what they were doing and they eyeballed me."
The trial continues before a jury and Mr Justice Abbott.
