A Chinese woman accused of murdering her husband in Derry last year had in excess of £100,000 in her bank account, a police officer told Derry Magistrate’s Court today.
39 year old Suwei Shang of Francis Street in Derry is charged with murdering Damian Keenan on November 1st.
During a bail application in Derry yesterday a police officer said that they feared Shang may flee before her trial if granted bail and also that they believed that the money in her accounts was not legal.
Outlining the case, the police officer said that Shang had married Mr. Keenan in August and then on November 1st last year the ambulance service received a call to say that a male had fallen downstairs.
When paramedics arrived they found a man with stab wounds to the back.
Shang admitted to the paramedics that she had stabbed him but when arrested for attempted murder she said: “I didn’t mean to kill him.”
Mr. Keenan died the next day and Shang was subsequently charged with murder and replied ‘I regret it so much’.
The officer said that Shang was due to be deported on November 5th.
She told police that after an argument in which she claimed Mr. Keenan had banged her head off a wall several times she had taken a kitchen knife meaning to slash him but he had moved as she made a slashing movement and she had stabbed him.
The police opposed bail on the grounds that Shang might interfere with witnesses.
He added that police believed that Shang had a boyfriend and that some of the money in her accounts had already been transferred to China. He said that police believed that the money in the bank accounts was obtained illegally.
The officer said that the Borders Agency had also indicated that if Shang was granted bail they would immediately detail her as she was now in the country
illegally.
District Judge Barney McElholm said leaving aside the fact that Shang may be detained by the Borders Agency he did not feel that Shang should be released on bail.
He said that the money in Shang’s account was very relevant and he felt that she might flee before her trial.
Shang, who wept throughout the hearing, will appear again on June 14.
