While the man accused of killing Chinese student Wei Amanda Zhao remains free in China, the trial of his cousin, charged with helping to cover up the crime, began in Canada yesterday .
In brief but compelling terms in B.C. Supreme Court, Crown prosecutor Jane Nascou made public for the first time what is alleged to have happened the night of Oct. 9, 2002, when Ms. Zhao disappeared from the Burnaby suite she had been sharing with her boyfriend, Ang Li.
Han Zhang, a cousin of Mr. Li, lived in the basement apartment's second bedroom.
"Ang Li murdered Wei Zhao while Han Zhang slept," Ms. Nascou told the court. Then, according to the prosecutor, he woke Mr. Zhang and confessed what he had done.
"[Mr. Zhang]saw Zhao's body lying on the floor of the bedroom . . . He helped place the body in a suitcase."
After that, the two young men drove 60 kilometres east to Stave Lake, north of Mission, and threw the suitcase over an embankment into the water, court heard. Ms. Zhao's body was discovered 11 days later.
Several days after that, Mr. Li left for China, still regarded by RCMP investigators as a witness, not a suspect in the slaying.
During a lengthy police interview on Nov. 30, 2002, Mr. Zhang confessed that he had helped his cousin dispose of Ms. Zhao's body.
He is now on trial, charged with assisting Ang Li "for the purpose of enabling [him]to escape," while knowing that Mr. Li had killed Wei Amanda Zhao, the prosecutor said.
Mr. Li was subsequently charged with first-degree murder.
However, Chinese authorities have refused Canada's request to send him back for trial.
The case has turned into a high-profile jurisdictional battle between Canada and the People's Republic of China, because there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.
Both Ms. Zhao, 21 at the time of her death, and Mr. Li, two years younger, were Chinese citizens when they came to Canada to study, so China has insisted that Mr. Li's fate is up to them.
Many believe the case is clouded by China's unhappiness over the fact that prominent fugitive Lai Changxing, accused of masterminding a multi-billion smuggling and bribery ring, is still in Canada five years after they asked for his deportation.
In an unprecedented move, Chinese police have asked Canadian investigators to forward all their evidence against Mr. Li, allowing China to conduct its own investigation of the death. Should Mr. Li be convicted in China, he could receive the death penalty.
Mr. Zhang, a lanky 22-year-old wearing a shirt and tie and loose, black jeans, stared straight ahead from the prisoner's box yesterday as the allegations were levelled against him.
He faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if found guilty by Mr. Justice Paul Williamson of the Supreme Court, who is hearing the case without a jury.
Meanwhile, RCMP Staff-Sergeant Wayne Rideout shed some light on why police allowed Mr. Li to return to China so soon after Ms. Zhao's body was found.
According to Mr. Li's story to police, Ms. Zhao left their suite after dinner to buy some cooking oil and didn't return. Mr. Zhang backed him up.
"Their stories were similar in nature and they appeared to myself to be truthful," Staff-Sgt. Rideout testified.
Answering questions from defence lawyer Howard Rubin, the RCMP officer said he was unaware at the time that Mr. Li had already made plans to leave the country.