Wade gets life for murder of Chinese student

A 27-year-old Dublin man who was previously sentenced to five years for manslaughter has been given a mandatory life sentence for the murder of a Chinese student.

Derek Wade of Church Avenue, Rialto, has 25 previous convictions including a seven year sentence for manslaughter in 1999 when he was just 17.

He was found guilty last week of stabbing Zhi Song (aged 23) with a chef's carving knife at the house Mr Song was living in Reuben Avenue, South Circular Road, in the early hours of June 29 2005.

Wade also received a five year sentence for attempting to rob Xiau Wen Zhou of her purse on the same occasion.

Mr Justice Barry White heard that gardai received an anonymous tip off that Wade's fingerprints would be found at the scene. Wade was arrested on an unrelated matter some 24 hours after the murder and remanded in custody to Cloverhill Prison.

Gardaí matched file copies of his fingerprints with those found at the scene and on July 1 arrested Wade at Cloverhill.

Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, defending, said that Wade offered his sincere apologies to the parents of Zhi Song who had attended the trial.