Double murder accused tells of gambling loss

A young man accused of the double murder of two friends whose burnt remains were found in Dublin in March 2001 told a witness he had lost £1,000 playing 'Blackjack' in an amusement arcade in the city.

Yu Jie (aged 25), who is also known as 'Jack', with a last address at McKee Avenue, Finglas, Dublin, denies the murder of Ms Liu Qing (aged 19) in an apartment at Blackhall Square, off North King St., Dublin 7, between 6pm on March 12 2001 and 3am on March 14 2001. Mr Yu also denies the murder of Mr Yue Feng (aged 19) between 1pm on March 12 and 3am on March 14 in the same place.

The DPP alleges that Yu Jie strangled his friends on March 12 and then returned to their apartment and set fire to it in the early hours of March 14. The motive for the alleged murders was larceny, counsel for the DPP claims.

As the prosecution case ended its first week, the owner of the Bangkok Café on Parnell Street, Dublin in the year to March 2001, Ms Arunee Hennessy, told the trial that Yu Jie had worked for her on occasion. He once told her that he sometimes played 'Blackjack' on the machines in Dr Quirke's Emporium in O'Connell Street, she told Mr Vincent Heneghan BL, prosecuting. He told her he had lost £1,000 playing it, she said. Ms Hennessy said she told him he was crazy.

The jury has heard that on the evening of Monday, March 12 2001, Yu Jie failed to turn up for work at 5pm at another job as a dishwasher in Wollensky's, a restaurant in Temple Bar.

The prosecution has called a former housemate of his, Ms Liu Sha Sha, who identified him as the man depicted in a still shot taken from CCTV footage outside the apartment of Fue Yeng and Liu Qing at 17:51:42 that evening.

Another former housemate of the accused, Mr Liu Pin, who also worked as a dishwasher in Wollensky's, told the trial that Yu Jie turned up at 8pm to go with himself and Liu Sha Sha to an amusement arcade near Phibsboro.

Mr Liu told Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, that he would go twice or three times a week and Yu Jie "more or less" the same. He said they played poker machines, mainly, costing one pound a game. Mr Buckley put it to him that he gambled quite a lot. "Entertainment", Mr Pin replied.

In other evidence, senior fire officers told the trial that they became suspicious when they saw the partially badly charred bodies of the student couple, Yue Feng and Liu Peng, lying on a bed when they were called to the scene of a fire and explosion at the Blackhall Square apartment at around 1am on the morning of March 14.

Phibsboro Station officer, Eugene Duignan said firefighters John Chubb and Graham Parkes had some difficulty gaining access through the bedroom, and he was about to call for a sledgehammer when one of them used his shoulder to push it in.

He said he first noticed an elevated fire in the bedroom, concentrated around the bed. The fire was small and was put out quickly. The bottom of the bed was severely burnt and a partition wall beside it had shifted some eight inches from the skirting board. "I assumed it was some pressure blast - explosion in other words", Mr Duignan said.

He said the male body on the bed had a small amount of blood at the end of his nostril and his tongue was protruding. He formed the view that the death was suspicious and asked all personnel to withdraw from the scene.

District Fire Officer Jim Murphy also said that on viewing the bodies he did not believe "it was a natural fire death". He noted that the bedroom window had been blown out, with the broken glass outside.

He believed it was a small, localised fire, or flash-over. An accelerant such as petrol could have caused a flash-over or explosion.

None of the fire brigade witnesses had smelt any petrol or other such fumes when they removed their breathing masks outside the apartment, they told defence counsel Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC.

The trial continues on Monday before a jury and Mr Justice Abbott.