“I did not want to see my Papa and Mama dead so I killed her.”
Speaking in broken Filipino and apologizing for what he had done, the Chinese suspect in the brutal killing of his former lover and compatriot, whom he allegedly run over twice with his car and stabbed to death last month, was arrested early Friday by policemen at a condominium unit in Manila.
The suspect claimed he was driven to murder because his former girlfriend allegedly threatened to kill his parents.
After weeks of searching for Gong Shu Yang, 27, of Fujian Shishi City in the People’s Republic of China, Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section agents led by Senior Insp. Joselito de Ocampo finally caught up with him at Taft Tower along Taft Avenue in Malate.
Sighting
A police informant told policemen on Thursday night that he had seen Gong at the tower.
At 12:30 a.m. Friday, policemen spotted him entering the building and arrested him for the murder on Jan. 14 of 24-year-old Zhao Chun Lan, a tourist from the People’s Republic of China.
She was run over and repeatedly stabbed along the Roxas Boulevard service road at the back of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas building in Malate.
Speaking from the holding cell of the MPD homicide section, Gong, who claimed he has a furniture business in the country, told the Inquirer he was sorry for what he did.
He claimed the victim had been demanding 20,000 Chinese yuan (approximately P135,600) from him.
Minutes before she was killed, she allegedly sent a text message to him saying that she had hired five or six men to kill his parents if he did not pay back the money he owed her in 15 minutes.
Gong said the money was a refund of what she shelled out for an abortion he ordered her to have in China because he did not know of any abortion clinics in the country.
Breakup
“I wanted to break up with her but she did not want to break up with me,” he said.
The suspect claimed he was already broke when asked why he did not simply cough up the cash she was allegedly demanding from him.
De Ocampo said they had followed a lead from a security camera video taken of the killing.
The police official said Gong’s face was seen clearly in the footage and they were able to match his picture with still photographs found in the victim’s mobile phone.
Gong also allegedly duped Zhao of some P1.3 million in cash, which caused their breakup, he added.
In the closed circuit television footage, Gong and Zhao were seen arguing in front a black Nissan Cefiro. The suspect then walked back to his car and sat on the driver’s seat.
Zhao was seen apparently daring the driver, her hands gesturing for the car to come to her.
But Gong started to drive in reverse, prompting Zhao to walk away, probably thinking that the driver had chickened out.
Several seconds later, the car stopped, then suddenly surged forward, running over Zhao who had turned back too late.
While the victim lay bleeding on the ground, the driver was seen taking something from his vehicle.
After a few seconds, Gong approached the wounded woman and started striking her chest with an object, which later turned out to be a kitchen knife, before getting back in the car, running over the victim again, and then speeding away.
Zhao was declared dead on arrival at the Ospital ng Maynila from three stab wounds in the chest and severe injuries in the head.
Gong remains detained at the MPD homicide section holding cell pending the filing of a murder charge against him in the City Prosecutor’s Office.