Man describes being stabbed before finding teenage step-daughter's body in Chinese takeaway

A man has described the moment he found the "lifeless" body of his step-daughter shortly after he had been repeatedly stabbed.

Merthyr Crown Court heard Wenjing Lin - also known as Wenjing Xu - was strangled at her family's Chinese takeaway in Ynyswen, Rhondda Cynon Taf, on March 5.

Chun Xu, 32, is on trial over the schoolgirl's murder and the attempted murder of her stepfather, Yongquan Jiang.

Mr Jiang told the court on Tuesday how on the morning of her death the accused had lured him down to the basement of the Blue Sky Chinese takeaway on Baglan Street that they own, after asking for a piece of fish from the freezer.

Xu then launched a frenzied knife attack on him, Mr Jiang said. He told the court: "I was reaching into the freezer and suddenly I felt my neck was painful and there was force on my neck... pom, pom, pom."

Mr Jiang made stabbing motions to the back of his neck as he spoke.

He continued: "I didn't think he was stabbing me, I didn't know. I didn't realise until I turned my body around and saw he was using two knives and stabbing me."

Mr Jiang said he fell to floor after slipping on his own blood and a struggle ensued during which he said the defendant stabbed him in the face.

When asked to describe where he had been stabbed, Mr Jiang pointed to both sides of his nose and behind his left ear.

He said he managed to grapple one of the knives from Xu's hands and then asked him: "What's wrong with you today?" But Xu did not respond.

After a further tussle, Mr Jiang said he asked Xu again why he was attacking him, and this time the defendant responded with: "Money, money, money."

The court heard on Monday how Xu had owed the family £14,000.

After Mr Jiang's wife, Wenjing's mother Meifang Xu, came down the stairs and rang a friend for help, the witness said he went upstairs to open the front door of the shop and wait for an ambulance, and there he found Wenjing lying on a black mat by the counter.

Weeping, he said: "I turned around and saw Wenjing was lying down by the counter. I started calling my wife: 'Come down quickly, Wenjing has also been attacked by him.'"

"I walked close to Wenjing and her face was purple. I was trying to pick her up. She was lifeless. Then I dropped her and was sitting on the sofa."

Mr Jiang said his wife came upstairs and cradled her daughter's body.

He was taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where he stayed for around 15 days, receiving treatment for 10 injuries.

Xu had cut his own throat after the attack and was taken to University Hospital of Wales for treatment after which he was arrested, the court heard.

He later told a police psychologist he wanted "revenge" against Wenjing's mother Meifang Xu after he fell into debt.

Michael Jones QC, prosecuting, previously told the court how the defendant had used his mobile phone in the hours before he attacked Wenjing and her stepfather to search: "Will fingerprints be burned by fire?"

The court was also told that the accused had brought with him one of the knives he used in the attack after taking it from a different Chinese takeaway in Pontypridd, where he had been staying.

Mr Jones said: "This defendant strangled to death this 16-year-old girl Wenjing Lin. This is not in dispute."

Xu admits attacking 38-year-old Mr Jiang, but denies intending to kill him or cause him serious harm. He has pleaded guilty to Wenjing's manslaughter.

A statement from Ms Xu, Wenjing's mother, was read out in court, in which she said of her daughter: "The moment I saw her, her face had gone black and pale. I went to hug her and her body was cold. I could see her neck was black as she had been strangled."

The court heard Ms Xu regarded the defendant as a nephew even though they were not blood relatives, because their families are next door neighbours in China.

The trial continues.