The father of a young Chinese woman who was stabbed to death by a Chinese man told the killer he "could run away from punishment, but not from God", at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Hua Yu Feng (27), The Woods, Woodbrook Glen, Bray, Co Wicklow, was found guilty of manslaughter but not guilty of the murder of Ms Xiang Yi Wang (21), originally of Fuxing City, China, at Woodbrook Glen in Bray on July 4, 2003.
Ms Wang, known as "Linda", had been living with a Chinese family at The Grove, Woodbrook Glen, Bray, at the time.
Late last Friday, a jury of seven men and five women delivered the unanimous manslaughter verdict after deliberating for two hours and eight minutes.
Speaking to the court through an interpreter, Mr De Jiu Wang, the father of the deceased, said: "We strongly felt very unfair and upset about the verdict brought by the jury. Our hundreds of Chinese friends and family felt very upset, all the Chinese students in Bray felt very upset."
"On behalf of my daughter, I strongly protest the unfair verdict given by the jury," Mr Wang added. He spoke of his shock at how little time the jury spent on the verdict. "The court has spent more than 10 days hearing the evidence, the gardaí spent over a year and a half investigating such a big case, and the jurors only spent two hours on their verdict," Mr Wang said.
"You didn't even have enough time to review the evidence," he said of the jury.
He told how in 2001 he and his wife, along with relatives and friends in China, decided to send their only child to Ireland. "You should know what a big decision this was for us. She was our only child, our hope and our future."
He said they chose Ireland for two reasons. "Irish people are peaceful and full of kindness, and the social security system is good. Second, Ireland is a beautiful country."
Mr Wang spoke with fervour in the courtroom about his daughter's death. "How could she have been killed in such a peaceful country?" he said. "We sent our child alive to Ireland, she was full of energy and wishes for the future. And we got back only ashes."
Ms Wang was "loved by her teachers and classmates", and she achieved excellence in school due to her intelligence, he said. His daughter began playing piano at four and had qualified as a piano teacher. Mr Wang said the killing of his daughter, who was stabbed seven times, was "an unforgivable evil". Mr Wang said his family was in a painful abyss. "My wife wanted to die many times after hearing the murder news, and my 80-year-old mother calls out her grand-daughter's name in tears. Who is to sympathise with us?" Addressing the killer, Mr Wang said: "The shameless coward has won. You can run away from punishment, but you won't run away from God. My daughter's eyes will look at you for ever."
The court has heard that Ms Wang was found dead on the morning of July 4th at a garden near her home. She had seven deep stab wounds to her body, six of which were inflicted from behind. The sentencing of Feng is up for mention on March 15th.