A Chinese man, aged 23, has been charged by gardai investigating the murder of Mr Yue Feng and Ms Liu Quing at their Dublin apartment last week. He was being detained overnight at the Bridewell Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and will appear this morning at the Dublin District Court.
The man was arrested at a house in north Dublin at about 10.45 a.m. yesterday. Gardai led by Det Supt Cormac Gordon were acting on information supplied by the Chinese community.
Det Supt Gordon confirmed that the gardai were being assisted by a police officer from mainland China who arrived in Ireland within days of the murder to assist in the investigation.
"There is no shortage of volunteers from members of the Chinese community living in Ireland with relatively good English", Det Supt Gordon said.
Many Chinese students studying English here had been shocked at the brutal murder of their fellow nationals and had "willingly assisted the Garda". Chinese nationals working here had also come forward to help.
The two murder victims, both aged 19, were strangled. Their bodies were found partially burned in the apartment, which had been set on fire.
Members of the families of the two victims are expected to arrive in Ireland today to identify their bodies. The parents of the dead man, Mr Yue, and an uncle of the dead woman, Ms Liu, received visas from the Irish Embassy in Beijing yesterday.
The families declined to be interviewed by The Irish Times.
On Wednesday, an uncle of Ms Liu, Mr Song Shoutian, said that the family was devastated. Ms Liu had telephoned the family in Shenyang in north-east China on February 5th and was in good spirits. She had given no indication of any problem.
The mother of the dead woman had to receive hospital treatment after being informed of her daughter's death.
Mr Song said that the family had raised the equivalent of £15,000 to send his niece to Ireland to study English. The family could only afford to send one person to Dublin to claim her body.
The bodies of the teenagers were discovered in their fire damaged apartment at Blackhall Square on March 14th.