Charges pile up against Chinese national

NEXT Wednesday it will have been three years since the Ministry of Home Affairs told Chinese national Yu Zin that he had to leave Namibia within 21 days.

Yu remains in the country and criminal charges continue to pileup against him – the latest being a count of dealing in almost a quarter of a kilogram of heroin. Yu (30) and two co-accused appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on that charge yesterday.According to the record of this latest criminal case , he and fellow Chinese nationals Cui Cui (22) – Yu says she is his sister – and Zhang Funang (25) were arrested on Monday this week.The drug-dealing charge is not the only accusation the wheelchair-bound Yu faces at this stage.Yesterday another Chinese citizen resident in Namibia, Lian Ying Ma, complained to The Namibian that Yu had threatened her at gunpoint at one of Windhoek’s top hotels a month and a half ago, and that the Police did not appear to be properly investigating that incident.Yu denied her claims, brushing them off as lies.As for his arrest on Monday evening, he protested that he was being set up and that the drugs alleged to have been discovered by the Police must have been planted.According to Detective Inspector Barry de Klerk, Commanding Officer of the Drug Law Enforcement Unit in Windhoek, Yu and his two co-accused were arrested after the largest quantity of heroin yet to found by the Police on a single occasion in Namibia was discovered in the boot of a car belonging to one of Yu’s employees, Zhang.De Klerk said the Police found 200 grams of the drug in the vehicle, in a parking area at the Kalahari Sands Hotel in the city, as well as a small quantity of heroin amongst some of Yu’s clothes at his sister’s house in Windhoek West.The drugs have a local street value of some N$100 000.De Klerk added that the Police had also discovered eight boxes of pirate-brand Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes in Yu’s possession.Yu will probably appear in court in connection with this on Monday, De Klerk said.Yu has been charged with several criminal cases over the last three years.In the first of these, in which he and two co-accused were charged with armed robbery, he was acquitted in the Windhoek Regional Court four months ago.That was after the main witness – the complainant who had accused Yu and his alleged accomplices of robbing him at gunpoint of household goods valued at some N$23 000 – refused to continue with the matter because it had dragged on through repeated postponements for close to three years without going on trial.In a second case, Yu and two Chinese compatriots were arrested when a party at a Chinese restaurant at the hotel was interrupted by a burst of gunfire from an AK47 rifle wielded by a companion of Yu’s.The shooting, in which a Chinese restaurateur of Windhoek was wounded in the legs, took place while Yu was in another part of the restaurant, where he was in the process of assaulting one of the guests at the party.Yu eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.The scene of that crime was also the setting for the charge that Lian Ying Ma now claims to have made against… She claims in a sworn affidavit that she was in the Country Club’s casino on the evening of June 26 when Yu and a group of Chinese men approached her and Yu took a gun from his jacket, pointed it at her and, in Chinese, ordered her to follow him.She claims to have called to casino staff for help, yelling that “the mafia” wanted to shoot her before she managed to flee to a parking lot where she succeeded in hiding in her car.Yu dismissed her allegations as lies yesterday.He charged in return that she had a grudge against him because she suspected him of having informed the Ministry of Home Affairs that she was illegally in Namibia, which had led to her deportation at one stage.Yu has also faced problems with his residence status.On August 17 2001, the Home Affairs Ministry’s Chief of Immigration informed him that his application for a renewal of his work permit had not been successful.He was also informed that he had to leave Namibia within 21 days.At that time he still had the armed robbery case pending against him, though.It is understood that for this reason he was not expelled from Namibia at that stage.In the meantime, Yu has married a Namibian woman.When asked about this yesterday, he at first said he did not remember when he had married; then he said that it had been sometime last year.Yu and his two co-accused were remanded in custody yesterday.They have to appear in court again on October… Their defence lawyer, Andre Louw, indicated to Magistrate Elina Nandago that he would submit an application for bail before that.Yu (30) and two co-accused appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on that charge yesterday.According to the record of this latest criminal case , he and fellow Chinese nationals Cui Cui (22) – Yu says she is his sister – and Zhang Funang (25) were arrested on Monday this week.The drug-dealing charge is not the only accusation the wheelchair-bound Yu faces at this stage.Yesterday another Chinese citizen resident in Namibia, Lian Ying Ma, complained to The Namibian that Yu had threatened her at gunpoint at one of Windhoek’s top hotels a month and a half ago, and that the Police did not appear to be properly investigating that incident.Yu denied her claims, brushing them off as lies.As for his arrest on Monday evening, he protested that he was being set up and that the drugs alleged to have been discovered by the Police must have been planted.According to Detective Inspector Barry de Klerk, Commanding Officer of the Drug Law Enforcement Unit in Windhoek, Yu and his two co-accused were arrested after the largest quantity of heroin yet to found by the Police on a single occasion in Namibia was discovered in the boot of a car belonging to one of Yu’s employees, Zhang.De Klerk said the Police found 200 grams of the drug in the vehicle, in a parking area at the Kalahari Sands Hotel in the city, as well as a small quantity of heroin amongst some of Yu’s clothes at his sister’s house in Windhoek West.The drugs have a local street value of some N$100 000.De Klerk added that the Police had also discovered eight boxes of pirate-brand Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes in Yu’s possession.Yu will probably appear in court in connection with this on Monday, De Klerk said.Yu has been charged with several criminal cases over the last three years.In the first of these, in which he and two co-accused were charged with armed robbery, he was acquitted in the Windhoek Regional Court four months ago.That was after the main witness – the complainant who had accused Yu and his alleged accomplices of robbing him at gunpoint of household goods valued at some N$23 000 – refused to continue with the matter because it had dragged on through repeated postponements for close to three years without going on trial.In a second case, Yu and two Chinese compatriots were arrested when a party at a Chinese restaurant at the hotel was interrupted by a burst of gunfire from an AK47 rifle wielded by a companion of Yu’s.The shooting, in which a Chinese restaurateur of Windhoek was wounded in the legs, took place while Yu was in another part of the restaurant, where he was in the process of assaulting one of the guests at the party.Yu eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.The scene of that crime was also the setting for the charge that Lian Ying Ma now claims to have made against… She claims in a sworn affidavit that she was in the Country Club’s casino on the evening of June 26 when Yu and a group of Chinese men approached her and Yu took a gun from his jacket, pointed it at her and, in Chinese, ordered her to follow him.She claims to have called to casino staff for help, yelling that “the mafia” wanted to shoot her before she managed to flee to a parking lot where she succeeded in hiding in her car.Yu dismissed her allegations as lies yesterday.He charged in return that she had a grudge against him because she suspected him of having informed the Ministry of Home Affairs that she was illegally in Namibia, which had led to her deportation at one stage.Yu has also faced problems with his residence status.On August 17 2001, the Home Affairs Ministry’s Chief of Immigration informed him that his application for a renewal of his work permit had not been successful.He was also informed that he had to leave Namibia within 21 days.At that time he still had the armed robbery case pending against him, though.It is understood that for this reason he was not expelled from Namibia at that stage.In the meantime, Yu has married a Namibian woman.When asked about this yesterday, he at first said he did not remember when he had married; then he said that it had been sometime last year.Yu and his two co-accused were remanded in custody yesterday.They have to appear in court again on October… Their defence lawyer, Andre Louw, indicated to Magistrate Elina Nandago that he would submit an application for bail before that.