Mississauga man says he didn’t kill his roommate

A Mississauga man has testified that he staged a cover-up to escape blame for the December 2017 murder of his roommate – a murder he says he did not commit.

Yunying Pan was stuffed into a large duffel bag, placed in the trunk of her roommate’s car, where she was kept for hours, before her body was stashed in two places and then buried, Shaofeng Han testified. Wednesday.

The 55-year-old, accused of killing Pan, has shared the first details of his then 40-year-old roommate’s final moments.

Speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, Han testified on Wednesday that he found Pan covered in blood and unconscious on the night of December 5, 2017, on the steps inside the townhouse of Mississauga which they shared as tenants, but had covered it up because he feared the In his words, the Canadian justice system would execute him even though he was not responsible for his death.

« I never killed her, » Han said of Pan, who had moved into the house shared by Han and another man about two weeks before he died.

Han said he was watching a movie in his upstairs bedroom when he decided to go downstairs shortly after 7:30 p.m.

When he got to the bottom of the stairs, « I was so shocked by the thing I saw, » Han testified, adding that Pan was face down on the stairs.

« There was a lot of blood on her, » the stairs and the wall, he said. He called her but there was no response, « then I pushed her and no response at all. »

Han told the jury he found the rear sliding glass doors splayed wide open, suggesting « someone escaped from there. »

He decided not to call the police because « the police would think I was the one who killed Ms. Pan, then convict me and execute me. »

He decided to dispose of Pan’s body and move his Lexus SUV to make it look like she was missing.

His lawyer, Lydia Riva, spent Wednesday trying to quash the Crown’s theory that Han, a divorced father of a 25-year-old son, killed Pan because she rejected his romantic advances, made in the days after moving in, and that it was noisy, which annoyed Han. Han testified that he complained to the landlord about Han making noise, but said things had gotten better.

« I never had any romantic interest in her, » Han said.

The jury heard that while Pan lay dead inside the house, Han called his employer at around 8:26 p.m. to tell him he was sick and couldn’t get to work the next day. Shortly after 9:15 p.m., he texted his son.

« I was in tears, » Han said, adding that minutes later he backed his car into the townhouse garage so he could place the body, now inside the bag, in the trunk. of his Toyota Corolla.

Han said he panicked after making the grisly discovery, which he thought the police would blame him for, so he decided to cover it up by driving the body out of the Strathaven Drive townhouse complex.

The following afternoon, Han, a driving instructor, who moved to Canada from China in 2006, said he drove Pan’s SUV to a parking lot near the Square One mall, where he had abandoned it and where it was later discovered. Han was not charged with second-degree murder until January 26, weeks after Pan’s disappearance prompted police to monitor Han’s daily routine, the jury heard.

Han, a permanent resident, testified that he helped Pan move in on Nov. 25 after her landlord brought her home. The two were talking to each other again when they passed each other in the shared kitchen.

Han said he asked if Pan had a boyfriend, to which she said yes, but admitted she was open to dating other people. Han admitted to suggesting he might be her boyfriend, but testified that he was only joking. They also discussed training together at the gym, but that didn’t happen.

Han spoke on Wednesday as his defense team of Riva and Leah Shafran made opening remarks to the jury, after the Crown concluded its case against Han.

In his introduction, Shafran said the suitcase remained in Han’s trunk until the early hours of December 7, before leaving it somewhere in Scarborough.

« In the days that followed, Mr. Han moved the suitcase twice more, » Shafran said. He then buried the suitcase behind Dewey College in Mississauga.

The Crown called several witnesses, including the officers who followed Han in the days after Pan disappeared.

The jury watched tons of video, including security camera footage of Han’s movements inside the compound that day, as well as Han’s police interrogation, which shows him denying any knowledge of her death and whereabouts.

“I was very afraid that if I tell the truth, the officer will think that I killed Ms. Pan,” he said, adding that he feared Canadian law would work the same way as in China, where, according to him, innocent people are sometimes unjustly tortured. accused by corrupt police and sentenced to death.

On March 29, 2019, Peel Police announced that human remains were found in a wooded area near Matheson Boulevard and Kennedy Road in Mississauga. The remains were later determined to belong to Pan.

The jury also reviewed video footage, capturing Pan shopping at a nearby store before returning to the resort on the afternoon of December 5, one of the last times she was seen alive outside. of the House.

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