Chinese face daily abuse, murder trial told
Saturday May 01 2004
But he said people like himself were subjected to abusive words "on a daily basis" by Irish people, and he did not know why. Dong Wei (35) denied he had retaliated by punching and kicking two assailants after they called him and a friend "Chinese w**kers": "I did not hit anybody, because I was attacked suddenly and my left eye got injured. I had never experienced anything like that," he said.
"We are living in Ireland. We have come across many Irish people using abusive words towards us on a daily basis. I do not know why. We are here in this country, we are global citizens," said Wei.
"If every day we picked a fight with the people who are using abusive words towards us, how many would we have?" he asked.
Wei was describing what he recalled of an assault which resulted in the death of his friend Ly Minh Luong (50). His left eye is still damaged from the incident.
He is a key prosecution witness in the murder trial of two doormen, James Harmer (26), originally from Stafford, England, and Noel O'Flaherty (33) of McCormack Gardens, Sutton.
They are pleading not guilty to murdering Minh Luong of Kilmartin Gardens, Tallaght, at Fownes St Upper, Temple Bar, Dublin. The assault took place on August 16 2002 and Minh Luong died on August 19.
The accused also deny a charge of assaulting Wei causing him serious harm on Fownes Street Upper on August 16 2002. The trial continues before Mr Justice Henry Abbott next week.
- Sorcha Crowley
