Man dies in fight over 'respect'

A Chinese man who stabbed a fellow countryman to death in a fight over a perceived loss of respect has been jailed for five years.

A judge also recommended Wang Huan, 36, of Hampton Court, be sent back to China - where he may face the death penalty.

The court heard the police were called after neighbours heard screaming from a house in Hampton Drive last March.

Officers found Huan covered in blood and another man, Li Wang, with stab wounds. Mr Wang died the next day.

A post mortem examination revealed Mr Wang had been stabbed four times.

Huan was originally charged with murder but that was left on the books after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

His plea was accepted by the Crown on the basis that Wang provoked him.

Meat cleaver

The prosecution told Belfast Crown Court that during police investigations it emerged that Huan and two others had been drinking together when Wang and his friend joined them.

However, when no-one spoke to Wang's friend he felt annoyed, believing he had "lost a great deal of respect".

There was a row, but it was resolved and the group carried on drinking until the early hours of the next day.

The lawyer said when they returned to the house, Wang "went straight" to Huan's bedroom and attacked him, punching him about the face, forcing Huan to hit him with a glass ashtray as Wang tried to strangle him.

Another man separated the pair, but the court heard they started fighting again, this time with Wang hitting Huan twice on the head with a meat cleaver before leaving Huan's room.

The third time the pair were fighting, Huan picked a knife from the floor and stabbed Wang, fatally injuring him.

The defence said that although Huan had used a weapon in the fight, "there's a high degree of provocation" given the fact that whether "consumed by rage" or just drunk, Wang made straight for Huan's room".

He revealed that initially Huan had come legally to Northern Ireland about 18 months before the tragic incident but added that his visa had ran out and could correctly be called "an overstayer".

The lawyer further revealed that as China has no "double jeopardy rule", when Huan is returned, he could face another prosecution for the same offence.

Mr Justice Deeny said it seemed that quite a lot of drink had been taken on the night of the killing, adding that there had been a "high degree of provocation."

The judge recommended that Huan is deported at the end of his sentence.