A brawl in Dublin city centre between two gangs of Chinese men wielding knives, over money owed to a brothel, led to the death of a fellow national who was stabbed in the chest.
One of the three accused before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court had part of his scalp cut off but it was later found on the street and reattached surgically in hospital.
Another accused was stabbed in the neck by one of his own gang and would have died but for the quick intervention of gardaí. He later thanked them for saving his life.
The brothel was owned by a triad gang and "staffed" by Chinese women and one of the three men before the court told gardaí he was afraid because of "triad" involvement.
Mr Zhang Da Wei (26), North King St, Mr Chen Long (23), Sherrard St, and Mr Yang Wang (23), no fixed abode, all pleaded guilty to violent disorder on O'Connell St on July 10th last year, and producing a knife on the same occasion.
Judge Yvonne Murphy, who was shown CCTV footage of the brawl, remanded them in custody for sentence until July 21st next.
Det Garda John O'Donovan told Mr Dominic McGinn , prosecuting, that both sides in the brawl were represented by the three men before the court. Det Garda O'Donovan said gardaí were monitoring O'Connell St by CCTV on July 10th when they saw a Chinese man with a knife hidden behind his back leave a traffic island in the middle of the street and cross over to another group of fellow nationals.
He pulled out the knife when he confronted the other group of around six men who then also produced knives and a fight started. It broke up when the gardaí arrived and the men involved scattered in all directions. They discarded their knives in the surrounding areas and some were found in Parnell St and in the grounds of a church in Findlater Place.
Witnesses in a nearby night-club said they saw a number of Chinese men carrying a bunch of knives enter the club and hide them in a bag. They later put the knives in the back of a black Mercedes which was parked nearby.
Det Garda O'Donovan said Mr Yang Wang was slashed on the neck during the fight and was found lying on O'Connell St. After he was released from hospital he was arrested. The court heard that Mr Zhang Da Wei and one of his friends had visited a brothel in south Dublin which was "peopled and run" by Chinese but failed to pay for the services they received. Mr Chen Long was in charge of collecting the debt but Mr Zhang and his friend refused to pay.
There was also tension between the two groups as Mr Zhang and his friends came from a northern Chinese province and Mr Long and his gang came from a south-eastern one. There had been a long history of tension between these provinces in China.
Mr Zhang's friend was attacked on July 9th and Mr Zhang decided to get revenge on Mr Long and his gang. The other group, which included Mr Wang, knew there might be violence so they brought knives with them to O'Connell St.
Mr Wang told gardaí he was given a knife by a friend and when the fight started he just waved it around. He was then "chopped on the side of the neck" and heard someone say "Wrong person, wrong person" before they took his knife away.
Det Garda O'Donovan said Mr Long and Mr Zhang could be seen fighting with knives on the CCTV footage. Mr Zhang later went to the Mater hospital after part of his scalp was sliced off.
Mr Erwin Mill Ardin SC, for Mr Long, said his client regretted the death of his fellow national and wished to apologise to the Irish people and the Chinese community for his actions.