本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛上海来的留学生Min Chen杀害小女孩Cecilia Zhang案明天开审。估计会是个漫长的审判
，可能会拖到6月份。。
4年级小学生Cecilia Zhang两年前被从自己家的卧室劫走，其尸体后来在Mississagua被
发现。其后上海留学生Min Chen被控一级谋杀(first degree murder)被逮捕。
details:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1146348609264&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
Cecilia Zhang trial: Urge to know, dread
Apr. 30, 2006. 07:57 AM
BOB MITCHELL AND NICHOLAS KEUNG
STAFF REPORTERS
It is a day that's been long in coming, loaded with emotions that hang
suspended between the urge to know and the dread of knowing.
As Cecilia Zhang's parents continue to mourn the heart-wrenching murder of
their daughter more than two years ago, they await the day of justice.
Tomorrow, Min Chen, the 23-year-old former visa student from Shanghai accused
of killing the 9-year-old after an abduction that gripped Greater Toronto's
attention for weeks, begins his trial in a Brampton courtroom.
Chen is charged with first-degree murder in the death of the Grade 4 student.
He was arrested July 21, 2004.
Major questions remain unanswered. What was the motive behind Cecilia's
abduction from a second-floor bedroom of her Whitehorn Cres. home on the
morning of Oct. 20, 2003? When was she killed and how did she die?
For those close to the Zhang family and those who rallied around them,
particularly the Chinese-Canadian community, the price of knowing the answers
is having to relive the tragedy.
Even then, many of these questions might never be answered as many loose ends
often still remain at the end of trials.
Many of the details will unfold for the first time at the first-degree murder
trial, which could last well into the middle of June.
"We have all been waiting quietly for the truth to come out at the trial. It's
been a very difficult and trying time," said Thomas Qu, a friend of Cecilia's
parents, Raymond and Sherry Xu.
"We've been waiting to have our wound closed."
He paused.
"It's going to be emotional for everyone when all these details come out. Of
course, we don't always want to deal with the truth, but it's not a matter of
choice."
Cecilia's parents' current silence speaks for those conflicting emotions. The
couple, who moved to Canada in 1998, have been unreachable this week, even to
friends.
But in a statement they released soon after Chen's arrest, Cecilia's parents
echoed Qu's wish for closure and the chance to move forward.
Staff at Seneca Hill Public School, where the girl attended the Grade 4 gifted
program, have also declined to speak, in part because some might be called to
testify.
Cecilia's disappearance drew tremendous media attention with a single
horrifying question: How could a child be abducted from what should be her
safest place — a bedroom in her family home near Finch Ave. and Highway 404
— with her parents sleeping in a nearby room?
Despite an exhaustive search and two TV segments about the case on America's
Most Wanted, her disappearance remained a mystery for five long months.
The details of what happened during that time probably won't be revealed for
public consumption for many days inside the Brampton courthouse.
Barring something unexpected, several days of pre-trial motions under a
publication ban is likely before the public begins to hear the case against
Chen, under Justice Bonnie Wein.
The 12 jurors will be chosen from a pool of about 500, but jury selection isn'
t expected to get under way until May 10.
And Peel's own dream team of Crown Attorney Mark Saltmarsh and assistant
crowns Steve Sherriff and Brian McGuire probably won't begin calling evidence
until May 15 at the earliest.
What is known most poignantly is that the discovery of Cecilia's skeletal
remains, in a dry riverbed near the Credit River, ended her parents' faint
hope of seeing their little girl alive again.
A Mississauga resident burning branches in his yard on March 27, 2004, was
drawn to the ravine by the sound of young coyotes, directly behind the Church
of the Croatian Martyrs on Mississauga Rd., just south of Eglinton Ave.
Investigators quickly realized the skeletal remains were that of the missing
child, but it would be nearly 24 hours before a positive identification was
made through dental records.
The cause of Cecilia's death has not been revealed.
Chen's arrest on July 21, 2004 ended one of the most exhaustive criminal
probes in Canadian history, on which police worked more than 100,000 hours.
A special 32-member task force headed by Peel Region police Supt. Frank
Roselli, and including senior investigators Braden Baron from Peel and Gerry
Cashman from Toronto, worked the case for weeks.
The investigation eventually involved the OPP, RCMP, Vancouver police, the FBI
, University of Toronto police and police forces in China.
The murder of the gifted young pianist has forever linked Cecilia's name with
other young Toronto area victims: Holly Jones, Kayla Klaudusz, Christopher
Stephenson, Andrea Atkinson, Alison Parrott, Christine Jessop, Emanuel Jacques
and Sharin Morningstar Keenan.
Chen is being defended by well-known criminal lawyer John Rosen, who
represented killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo, as well as defence counsel
John Lee.
Details of the preliminary hearing last June in which he was ordered to stand
trial remain under a publication ban.
The 6-foot, 150-pound Chen entered Canada on New Year's Day 2001, a month
before his 18th birthday, and was living here under a student visa, although
he had quit school months earlier.
Little else is known about him, except that he is the only son of Wenyong Hu,
51, a civilian clerk with the Shanghai police, and Haijia Chen, 52, an
executive with China Eastern Airlines.
He took an eight-month English language course at Seneca College and went on,
in July 2002, to enrol at the McDonald International Academy, a Toronto
private school offering Ontario high school credits to foreign students. He
left in August 2003.
Two months later, on Oct. 19, the Zhangs put their daughter to bed. They never
saw her alive again.
People across the GTA poured their hearts out for the bereaved family. Some 1,
500 mourners, most of them strangers, along with dignitaries such as the
premier and mayor attended the memorial service.
"There is no way people would forget Cecilia," said Chris Johnson, a neighbour
who has lived on Whitehorn Cres. for a decade. "I know I haven't," he added.
"I'm just glad to hear that the case is finally coming to a trial."
Although the spontaneous shrines are gone now, along with the website set up
to allow people to express their condolences, Cecilia has left a remarkable
legacy for someone only 9.
The wish list she once wrote for a class assignment, has inspired her family
and classmates. Titled My Wishes with a Genie, the list is now on her
tombstone in a Toronto cemetery, which stands surrounded by flowers, angel
figurines and a butterfly garden ornament.
The wish list includes things like an "ideal classroom," a meat substitute
that would save animals from being killed for food, and peace around the world
.
Thousands of dollars that were raised from the public in an appeal for Cecilia
's safe return were donated to causes that reflect her passion for music and
animals. A piano scholarship was established in her name at the Royal
Conservatory of Music, and ultrasound equipment was purchased for the Toronto
Zoo's Animal Health Centre.
At Cecilia's school, where a framed picture of the girl still hangs inside the
front entrance, a granite memorial guarded by a copper peace crane stands
beside the playground. Cash prizes in her name are being given to the top two
Grade 6 science students each year.
"As an agency advocating for children, we are still devastated by the incident
, and we'd like to have closure for the family," says John Durant, associate
executive director of Child Find Ontario, which also benefited from a donation
from Cecilia's family for a volunteer training program. "But we have to leave
it in the hands of our justice system," Durant added.
While he awaits trial, Chen is "doing fine" his lawyer Rosen has told the Star
.
Rosen added: "But does anybody look forward to a trial?"更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
，可能会拖到6月份。。
4年级小学生Cecilia Zhang两年前被从自己家的卧室劫走，其尸体后来在Mississagua被
发现。其后上海留学生Min Chen被控一级谋杀(first degree murder)被逮捕。
details:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1146348609264&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
Cecilia Zhang trial: Urge to know, dread
Apr. 30, 2006. 07:57 AM
BOB MITCHELL AND NICHOLAS KEUNG
STAFF REPORTERS
It is a day that's been long in coming, loaded with emotions that hang
suspended between the urge to know and the dread of knowing.
As Cecilia Zhang's parents continue to mourn the heart-wrenching murder of
their daughter more than two years ago, they await the day of justice.
Tomorrow, Min Chen, the 23-year-old former visa student from Shanghai accused
of killing the 9-year-old after an abduction that gripped Greater Toronto's
attention for weeks, begins his trial in a Brampton courtroom.
Chen is charged with first-degree murder in the death of the Grade 4 student.
He was arrested July 21, 2004.
Major questions remain unanswered. What was the motive behind Cecilia's
abduction from a second-floor bedroom of her Whitehorn Cres. home on the
morning of Oct. 20, 2003? When was she killed and how did she die?
For those close to the Zhang family and those who rallied around them,
particularly the Chinese-Canadian community, the price of knowing the answers
is having to relive the tragedy.
Even then, many of these questions might never be answered as many loose ends
often still remain at the end of trials.
Many of the details will unfold for the first time at the first-degree murder
trial, which could last well into the middle of June.
"We have all been waiting quietly for the truth to come out at the trial. It's
been a very difficult and trying time," said Thomas Qu, a friend of Cecilia's
parents, Raymond and Sherry Xu.
"We've been waiting to have our wound closed."
He paused.
"It's going to be emotional for everyone when all these details come out. Of
course, we don't always want to deal with the truth, but it's not a matter of
choice."
Cecilia's parents' current silence speaks for those conflicting emotions. The
couple, who moved to Canada in 1998, have been unreachable this week, even to
friends.
But in a statement they released soon after Chen's arrest, Cecilia's parents
echoed Qu's wish for closure and the chance to move forward.
Staff at Seneca Hill Public School, where the girl attended the Grade 4 gifted
program, have also declined to speak, in part because some might be called to
testify.
Cecilia's disappearance drew tremendous media attention with a single
horrifying question: How could a child be abducted from what should be her
safest place — a bedroom in her family home near Finch Ave. and Highway 404
— with her parents sleeping in a nearby room?
Despite an exhaustive search and two TV segments about the case on America's
Most Wanted, her disappearance remained a mystery for five long months.
The details of what happened during that time probably won't be revealed for
public consumption for many days inside the Brampton courthouse.
Barring something unexpected, several days of pre-trial motions under a
publication ban is likely before the public begins to hear the case against
Chen, under Justice Bonnie Wein.
The 12 jurors will be chosen from a pool of about 500, but jury selection isn'
t expected to get under way until May 10.
And Peel's own dream team of Crown Attorney Mark Saltmarsh and assistant
crowns Steve Sherriff and Brian McGuire probably won't begin calling evidence
until May 15 at the earliest.
What is known most poignantly is that the discovery of Cecilia's skeletal
remains, in a dry riverbed near the Credit River, ended her parents' faint
hope of seeing their little girl alive again.
A Mississauga resident burning branches in his yard on March 27, 2004, was
drawn to the ravine by the sound of young coyotes, directly behind the Church
of the Croatian Martyrs on Mississauga Rd., just south of Eglinton Ave.
Investigators quickly realized the skeletal remains were that of the missing
child, but it would be nearly 24 hours before a positive identification was
made through dental records.
The cause of Cecilia's death has not been revealed.
Chen's arrest on July 21, 2004 ended one of the most exhaustive criminal
probes in Canadian history, on which police worked more than 100,000 hours.
A special 32-member task force headed by Peel Region police Supt. Frank
Roselli, and including senior investigators Braden Baron from Peel and Gerry
Cashman from Toronto, worked the case for weeks.
The investigation eventually involved the OPP, RCMP, Vancouver police, the FBI
, University of Toronto police and police forces in China.
The murder of the gifted young pianist has forever linked Cecilia's name with
other young Toronto area victims: Holly Jones, Kayla Klaudusz, Christopher
Stephenson, Andrea Atkinson, Alison Parrott, Christine Jessop, Emanuel Jacques
and Sharin Morningstar Keenan.
Chen is being defended by well-known criminal lawyer John Rosen, who
represented killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo, as well as defence counsel
John Lee.
Details of the preliminary hearing last June in which he was ordered to stand
trial remain under a publication ban.
The 6-foot, 150-pound Chen entered Canada on New Year's Day 2001, a month
before his 18th birthday, and was living here under a student visa, although
he had quit school months earlier.
Little else is known about him, except that he is the only son of Wenyong Hu,
51, a civilian clerk with the Shanghai police, and Haijia Chen, 52, an
executive with China Eastern Airlines.
He took an eight-month English language course at Seneca College and went on,
in July 2002, to enrol at the McDonald International Academy, a Toronto
private school offering Ontario high school credits to foreign students. He
left in August 2003.
Two months later, on Oct. 19, the Zhangs put their daughter to bed. They never
saw her alive again.
People across the GTA poured their hearts out for the bereaved family. Some 1,
500 mourners, most of them strangers, along with dignitaries such as the
premier and mayor attended the memorial service.
"There is no way people would forget Cecilia," said Chris Johnson, a neighbour
who has lived on Whitehorn Cres. for a decade. "I know I haven't," he added.
"I'm just glad to hear that the case is finally coming to a trial."
Although the spontaneous shrines are gone now, along with the website set up
to allow people to express their condolences, Cecilia has left a remarkable
legacy for someone only 9.
The wish list she once wrote for a class assignment, has inspired her family
and classmates. Titled My Wishes with a Genie, the list is now on her
tombstone in a Toronto cemetery, which stands surrounded by flowers, angel
figurines and a butterfly garden ornament.
The wish list includes things like an "ideal classroom," a meat substitute
that would save animals from being killed for food, and peace around the world
.
Thousands of dollars that were raised from the public in an appeal for Cecilia
's safe return were donated to causes that reflect her passion for music and
animals. A piano scholarship was established in her name at the Royal
Conservatory of Music, and ultrasound equipment was purchased for the Toronto
Zoo's Animal Health Centre.
At Cecilia's school, where a framed picture of the girl still hangs inside the
front entrance, a granite memorial guarded by a copper peace crane stands
beside the playground. Cash prizes in her name are being given to the top two
Grade 6 science students each year.
"As an agency advocating for children, we are still devastated by the incident
, and we'd like to have closure for the family," says John Durant, associate
executive director of Child Find Ontario, which also benefited from a donation
from Cecilia's family for a volunteer training program. "But we have to leave
it in the hands of our justice system," Durant added.
While he awaits trial, Chen is "doing fine" his lawyer Rosen has told the Star
.
Rosen added: "But does anybody look forward to a trial?"更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net