The father of a young Chinese student, whose charred remains were found along with a female friend in an apartment in Dublin, has told a court that before the killings he had "learned from sources" that Ireland was an "unsuitable environment" for his son.
He told him to prepare to transfer his studies to Australia, a Central Criminal Court jury heard yesterday.
A 25-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to the double murder of the two English language students. The prosecution alleges that Mr Yu Jie first strangled the couple, who were said to be his friends, and then, two days later, set fire to their rented apartment in an attempt to hide what he had done.
Mr Yu Jie (25), who is known to some as "Jack", with a previous address at McKee Avenue, Finglas, Dublin, denies the murder of Ms Liu Qing (19) in an apartment at Blackhall Square, off North King Street, Dublin, between 6 p.m. on March 12th 2001 and 3 a.m. on March 14th 2001. He also denies the murder of Mr Yue Feng (19) between 1 p.m. on March 12th and 3 a.m. on March 14th in the same place.
The prosecution alleges that the motive for the alleged killings was larceny and that the accused was "acting alone".
Mr Lian Sheng Yue, the father of Mr Yue Feng, told the court that following his divorce in 1992, it was agreed that he would be responsible for the financial support of his son.
In October 1999, his son told him he wanted to go to Ireland to study, but Mr Yue did not agree to it. He later learned that his son's girlfriend Ms Liu Qing was going. His son applied for a Chinese passport in order to go with her.
When his son left for Ireland around February 2000, he transferred $5,000 in tuition fees for him. In June 2000, he returned home for a visit and his father, a company manager in the oil business, arranged for company staff to hand his son $30,000.
Mr Yue told the court that he wanted his son to leave Ireland. "I learned through other sources that the environment for study was not suitable for my son," he said. "I wanted to transfer him from Ireland to Australia, and I went to Australia myself to see what the environment there was like."
Cross-examined by Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, Mr Yue agreed his son had mentioned investing some of the money he received in a takeaway restaurant in Ireland. The trial continues.