A 27-year-old Dublin man was convicted of the murder of a Chinese student by a jury in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin last night.
The jury of six men and five women took a little more than two-and-a-half hours to find Derek Wade, of Church Avenue, Rialto, guilty of stabbing Zhi Song (23) with a chef's carving knife at the house where Mr Song was living, on Reuben Avenue, off the South Circular Road, in the early hours of June 29th, 2005.
The jury also found Wade guilty of attempting to rob Xiau Wen Zhou of her purse on the same occasion. Wade had denied both charges.
The jury heard that, on the night of the murder, Zhi Song had held a barbecue for some friends with his new girlfriend Xiau Wen Zhou, also known as Tracy. The two had been sharing the house on Reuben Avenue for nine months but had only recently started going out. Their guests left at about 9pm and the pair watched a film together before going to bed in their separate rooms. Ms Zhou fell asleep quickly but woke at about 5am to find someone in her room.
Wade had entered the house through a window. The first room he came to was occupied, so he went through to the kitchen at the back of the house and armed himself with a chef's carving knife and a meat cleaver.
He moved on to the larger bedroom at the front of the house - Ms Zhou's room. At first, she thought it was her friend Mr Song but quickly realised it was an intruder. Wade said to her: "Shh, I don't want to hurt you. I only want your purse."
Ms Zhou asked him to leave the room so she could get dressed. He turned away from her and moved to the other side of the room. They both heard a noise outside as Mr Song came out of his room.
Wade ran out, leaving Ms Zhou sitting on the bed. She heard a grunt, "like someone pushing or lifting something with full force". Seconds later, Mr Song staggered into her room bleeding from an open stab wound. The ambulance and police arrived quickly but Mr Song could not be revived and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards in hospital.
Early the next evening, Wade went to see his ex-girlfriend, the mother of his child. He had dyed his hair and eyebrows since the burglary. A couple of days later, gardaí asked him to take part in an identity parade. Ms Zhou picked him out. Gardaí had found Wade's fingerprints on the window of the house in Reuben Avenue and on the meat cleaver.
Mr Justice Barry White adjourned sentencing until next Monday to facilitate the dead man's family, who must return to China.