A man charged with murdering his wife’s relative, then cutting up the body inside his West Vancouver mansion will ask a B.C. Supreme Court justice to let him out on bail later this month.
Lawyers for 54-year-old Li Zhao, charged with the second-degree murder of Gang Yuan, 42, said this week they will seek Zhao’s release at a bail hearing tentatively set for May 29.
“He’s presumed innocent of these charges for now, until he has his trial,” said Joe Saulnier, one of the defence lawyers representing Zhou, outside North Vancouver provincial court on Monday, where Zhou made a brief appearance. “My understanding is he has no criminal record. He’s not known to the police.”
“He’s very upset and very worried as anyone would be who’s newly charged with murder,” said Saulnier, in response to reporters’ questions. “He’s never experienced anything like this. He’s never been arrested.”
Inside the court, where a dozen members of Vancouver’s Chinese-language media showed up to watch the case, Zhou showed minimal emotion as he listened to a Chinese interpreter while lawyers discussed court dates.
Outside the court, Saulnier said there was little he could say about the case. “The police are keeping a lot of the details to themselves at this point,” he told reporters. “Normally I’d be getting police reports, witness statements, that sort of thing. I haven’t seen anything yet.” Saulnier said the fact it took a week for second-degree murder charges to be approved “says something about the complexity” of the case.
Neither police nor defence lawyers have said what the exact relationship was between Zhou and the victim in the case, although Yuan has been described as Zhao’s wife’s cousin. The two reportedly also had a business relationship.
Chinese-language reporters said Monday Yuan was well known in the Chinese community as a person with business connections in mainland China.
Zhao has been listed on property records as owner of the $5.8-million home at 963 King Georges Way since 2010.
Late on May 2, police went to the home after receiving information that a violent confrontation had occurred at the house earlier in the day. Zhao was arrested early May 3.
Zhao also faces a charge of interfering with a body for allegedly cutting up his victim after death.
