A Chinese man accused of murdering a young woman Chinese student told the dead woman that he loved her as she lay dying and that he would "go with you", the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday in a statement by the accused, which was read to the court.
Mr Hua Yu Feng (27), of The Woods, Woodbrook Glen, Bray, Co Wicklow, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Xiang Yi Wang (21), originally from Fuxing City, China, at Woodbrook Glen in Bray on July 4th, 2003.
Ms Wang, known as "Linda", had been living with a Chinese family at The Grove, Woodbrook Glen, Bray, at the time.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Patrick James McCarthy SC read to the jury part of a statement given by the accused to gardaí following his arrest on July 13th, 2003.
The court heard that Ms Wang went willingly with the accused in the early hours of July 4th for a walk in a green area on Woodbrook Glen "because we always go to the garden and talk", the accused said. "Is it in the garden where you killed Linda?" Mr Feng was asked. "Yes," he replied.
The court has heard how Ms Wang told the accused, her boyfriend of 18 months, of "love stories" involving another man.
"How did you kill her?" Sgt Patrick Campbell asked the accused. "At the start I didn't use the knife. I just used my hands," he said. "Where?" the sergeant asked. "On her neck," Mr Feng replied. He said he did not know how many times he had stabbed Ms Wang.
The court heard in the statement how Mr Feng tried to pick Ms Wang up in his arms to get help, "but I thought she was very painful".
"At that moment I knew she would die," he said.
Asked if Ms Wang had any final words, Mr Feng responded: "All of the time she said, 'I'm sorry, mum and dad'. She told me I was the only person she loved."
"I said I loved her and I go with you," Mr Feng said in the interview. "I found an empty can of beer to try and cut my wrist. I did not find the artery," he added.
The accused then went back to his home to try and "find something sharper". "I went to kill myself," he said.
The court heard how Mr Feng later fell asleep in his own bed and was woken up by a housemate at 7 a.m. to ask why there was blood in the kitchen and bathroom. The accused went to Belfast that evening. "I stayed there and I tried to finish my life," he said in the statement. "Why Belfast?" Sgt Campbell asked. "I just wanted to finish my life where nobody else knows me," Mr Feng replied. The court heard the accused was taken to hospital in Belfast and released when his cousin came to collect him from Dublin. Mr Feng had spoken to gardaí in Dublin and said he wanted to turn himself in.
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Butler.