Murder of Amanda Zhao

Amanda Zhao Wei (simplified Chinese: 赵巍; traditional Chinese: 趙巍; pinyin: Zhào Wēi) (c. 1981 – October 2002) was a Chinese student in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, who was murdered in October 2002. Zhao was an English student at Coquitlam College when she was reported missing on October 9, 2002, and her body was found inside a suitcase by hikers near Stave Lake on October 20, 2002, where an autopsy revealed that Zhao had been strangled to death.[1][2] Two Chinese men that were living in Canada at the time, including Zhao's boyfriend, were arrested in China and charged by a Beijing court for Zhao's murder, with one being acquitted and one sentenced to 7-years imprisonment.

Amanda Zhao
Born
Zhao Wei

c. 1981
China
DisappearedOctober 9, 2002 (aged 21)
Burnaby, British Columbia
Body discovered(2002-10-20)October 20, 2002
Stave Lake, British Columbia
NationalityChinese
EducationCoquitlam College
OccupationStudent

Amanda Zhao's murder and the subsequent investigation highlighted issues with the co-operation of Canada and China in matters of justice, and issues of jurisdiction within Canadian law enforcement.

Background

Amanda Zhao Wei (simplified Chinese: 赵巍; traditional Chinese: 趙巍; pinyin: Zhào Wēi) was born in c. 1981 in the People's Republic of China, was a Chinese national, and at the time of her death a 21-year-old international student studying English at Coquitlam College located in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, near the city of Vancouver.

On October 9, 2002, Zhao was reported missing to the authorities, and just over a week later on October 20, her corpse was discovered contained within a suitcase by hikers near Stave Lake, 65 km (40 mi) east of Vancouver.

Investigation

The two murder suspects in the case, Li Ang (李昂) and Zhang Han (张瀚), were arrested in China in the summer of 2009. The prime suspect Li Ang, who was Zhao's boyfriend at the time of murder, was initially in Canada when Zhao's body was found. Li was a Chinese national and a computer science student at Simon Fraser University, located in the Vancouver area.[3]

Zhang Han, who was Li's cousin, was also implicated in the case. He later confessed that he had helped Li dispose of Zhao's body and helped Li travel back to China after the murder.[4] Zhang's confession led to him being charged as an accessory after the fact in Zhao's murder.[3] However, he was later acquitted by the British Columbia Supreme Court because the confession had been improperly obtained.[2] Zhao, Li, and Zhang shared a basement apartment in Burnaby at the time of murder.[2]

Eleven days before the body was found, Li reported to police that Zhao was missing after she went to buy groceries at the local Safeway store.[5] However, three days after Zhao's body was found, Li returned to China.[4]

Li was initially questioned by the RCMP on the case, but it was not until seven months after the murder that the RCMP issue a warrant for his arrest, and is being charged with second-degree murder in absentia by the Canadian government.[6]

In 2004, Li had been taken into custody by the Chinese government but was later released due to lack of evidence.[3]

Li was arrested by Chinese authorities again and convicted in September 2012, and sentenced to life in prison. Zhang was released and is not scheduled to be tried. In 2014, Li's sentence was changed by the Supreme court of Beijing to 7 years. The original first degree murder charge has been changed to secondary degree murder charge as the Supreme court of Beijing ruled that Zhao was accidentally killed by Li during a pillow play fight. The court decision was controversial as the court ruled without any new evidence[7]

Aftermath

The arrests for Amanda Zhao's murder took many years to complete, and responsibility was found to be mainly because the Canadian government is reluctant in giving evidence of murder cases to China, as Chinese authorities allow for capital punishment for murder, which is illegal in Canada. On October 13, 2009, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney said that China's capital punishment policy has been a problem in the case.[5] Zhao's murder was of great interest in the Chinese community in Canada because it exposed the lack of an extradition treaty between Canada and the People's Republic of China for crimes committed in the two countries, and the lack of the RCMP's authority in retaining suspects within Canadian borders until the investigation of a crime is completed.

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See also

References
  1. Darcy Wintonyk (October 13, 2009), Chinese authorities make arrest in B.C. homicide, CTV, retrieved October 15, 2009
  2. National Post (October 13, 2009), Suspects in Amanda Zhao slaying arrested in China, National Post, retrieved October 15, 2009
  3. Susanna Ng (October 7, 2008), Family of murdered student Amanda Zhao arrives in Vancouver, Straight.com, retrieved October 15, 2009
  4. Amanda Zhao's parents still crying for justice, canada.com, October 13, 2009, archived from the original on March 4, 2016, retrieved October 15, 2009
  5. Visiting parents demand justice in Zhao's slaying 6 years ago, CBC, October 7, 2009, archived from the original on October 11, 2008, retrieved October 15, 2009
  6. China arrests two in Zhao slaying, Global Television Network, October 13, 2009, archived from the original on 2011-07-11, retrieved October 15, 2009
  7. Mark MacKinnon (September 27, 2012). "Chinese court finds boyfriend guilty of murdering Amanda Zhao in B.C". The Globe and Mail. Toronto.

Sources
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