Charles Kembo, the Surrey man accused of killing his wife, girlfriend and stepdaughter, made his second court appearance in Richmond Provincial Court yesterday three weeks after being charged following a 10-month investigation.
Dressed in a red jumpsuit, the smooth-faced, muscular man scanned faces in the provincial courtroom, apparently looking for someone in the gallery. He crossed his arms throughout his brief appearance and wore a relaxed smile.
Mr. Kembo had not applied for bail and there was no indication whether he was seeking release. He is facing three counts of first-degree murder.
Grant Wong, Crown counsel in the case, said the disclosure process has just begun in the charges and requested the case be remanded until next month.
Brad Tak, Mr. Kembo's lawyer, was not at the hearing.
Mr. Kembo, 37, was charged July 29 in the death of Rita Yeung, 21, his stepdaughter, who police allege was killed July 24. Her remains were recovered by the Fraser River near Richmond.
Mr. Kembo, at the time Ms. Yeung was killed, was already under suspicion by an integrated homicide team that included Vancouver police, Delta police and Richmond RCMP for the death in November, 2004, of 45-year-old Sui Ma of Delta.
Police say Mr. Kembo was Ms. Ma's boyfriend. Her body was found stuffed in a duffel bag in a slough near Rice Mill Road in Richmond in 2004.
Margaret Kembo, 44, Ms. Yeung's mother and Mr. Kembo's wife, is believed to have been killed in October, 2002. Her body has not been recovered.
Police continue to investigate the death of Ardon Samuel, a former business partner of Mr. Kembo. No charges have been laid.
Police have said they have a motive in the deaths of the three women, but refused to make it public.
Before his arrest on July 29, Mr. Kembo was already a well-known person to immigration officials and the courts.
He arrived in Canada in 1989 as a government-sponsored refugee from Malawi. Within two years, he had received his first criminal conviction for theft and fraud.
In 1994, he was given a conditional deportation order, which he appealed. The order was later dropped by the Immigration Department.
A permanent resident of Canada by that time, Mr. Kembo was not deported because his convictions at that point were non-violent.
At one point in the 1990s, Mr. Kembo was alleged to have made at least 22 welfare claims using 22 different names during a two-year period.
During the deportation hearing in 1994, the immigration adjudicator was told that Mr. Kembo, then known as Charles Gwazah, the name used in his refugee claim, arrived in Canada at Pearson airport in Toronto in September, 1989.
Mr. Gwazah left Malawi after he was jailed for being involved in a political demonstration. Mr. Gwazah's lawyer, Anthony Zipp, said "there is a very real apprehension that any return to Malawi would result in his physical injury, apprehension and possibly death."
Mr. Kembo's next court appearance is set for Sept. 15.