A man has been found guilty by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of kidnapping, robbing and demanding €8,000 from a fellow Chinese national.
Liang Chen (25) of Charlemont, Griffith Avenue, Marino, in Dublin, has been remanded in custody for sentence on February 1st. The jury took just over three hours to find him guilty of falsely imprisoning Liu Xiao Lin at George's Street, Dun Laoghaire, robbing him of €2,000 and attempting to extort €8,000 from him on October 8th, 2002.
Judge Frank O'Donnell thanked the jury of seven men and five women for their attention and said the victim had shown great courage in giving evidence. It was day four of the trial.
Mr Lin told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that at about 12.30pm on the day in question, he and his friend, Su Yang, were kidnapped outside a newsagent in Dún Laoghaire by three Chinese men who said their "boss wanted to see Su Yang".
He did not want to go with them but, after seeing that Chen was holding a knife, he got into a taxi with him, Su Yang and another man. The other two men followed behind in a second taxi.
He said Chen directed the taxi driver to Chelmsford Avenue, in Ranelagh, where they were brought into a flat. Su Yang was taken away to "see the boss" and they said they only wanted him and would let him go later.
Mr Lin said he gave them €2,000, his bank cards and his pin number after being told "to clear his pockets". The men later took €1,269 from his account.
Chen then forced him to call his father in China, having been directed to tell him to give $8,000 (€6,820) to a named person in China. His father did not agree to this, so Mr Lin admitted he had been kidnapped. Chen then spoke to his father and claimed that the witness owed him this money.
Mr Lin said he made a second phone call to his father. Chen told him at about 4am he was free to go. He gave him €50 for a taxi home but warned him that if any of the men were arrested he would get back to him.