A man wanted for questioning in the investigation of the murder of Galway restaurateur Mr Anthony Tsang was still at large yesterday. The man fled the scene of a fight at a Chinese restaurant in a Co Limerick village on Tuesday night.
The suspect was one of a number of Chinese people involved in the fight at which a knife was produced and Mr Tsang fatally stabbed. Mr Tsang, a father of two, was visiting the restaurant in Patrickswell at 11.30 p.m. with three others when a fight broke out. A file has been sent to the DPP after six men were arrested and questioned by gardaí in Limerick city.
Ports and airports were being watched after the missing man, who is of Chinese descent, disappeared immediately after the fight, which involved at least eight men.
Supt Willie Keane, of Roxboro Garda Station, said the missing man was a member of staff at the Tao Tao restaurant whom gardaí wished to interview. "We are appealing to this individual to come forward."
It emerged yesterday that Mr Tsang, who ran the Ocean View Chinese restaurant in Salthill, Galway, was the victim of a failed extortion attempt in June, 1998.
Mr Tsang, who had received death threats over his failure to pay protection money to a Northern Ireland-based Triad gang, used a claw hammer to fight off a man armed with a knife who attacked him. The man was hospitalised but recovered and was arrested along with two accomplices. In the boot of their car, gardaí found iron bars with special hand-grips attached.
The men were subsequently convicted of being in possession of offensive weapons but other charges were dropped because Mr Tsang declined to come forward as a witness.
Following the case he arranged for his own personal protection for a period.