 Si Cheng, 52, also known as William, was killed by a crossbow last Thursday at a public library in Toronto. His son Zhou Fang, 24, is charged with first degree murder in his death. (Special to QMI Agency)
|
OTTAWA — The young man accused of killing his father with a crossbow hired an Ottawa private investigator to find him, QMI Agency has learned.
Zhou "Peter" Fang, 24, hired the investigator in early October. Fang identified himself as Henry. He showed up for a meeting with the investigator along with a woman whom he identified as his mother, sources said.
Fang told the investigator he was certain he'd seen his father around Ottawa on more than one occasion and asked the investigator to find him. To help with the search, the investigator was given a USB flash drive containing 26 photos of Si Cheng, also known as William, in a folder called EVIL.
The mother and son always showed up to meetings together and Fang called the investigator several times a week for updates — although, according to sources, the PI was never able to locate Fang's father in Ottawa.
Si Cheng was inside a Toronto public library Thursday when he was hit in the back by a bolt from a crossbow shortly after 4 p.m., police said.
It's alleged Fang fired the fatal shot as women and children in the library watched in horror.
Police have said there is a history of violence involving the accused killer's estranged mother and father. At least one source, who knew the couple when they were still living together as a family in Toronto in 2006, said "Nora" Cheng Mei Fang "lived in fear" of her former husband.
According to Nora Fang's Toronto divorce lawyer, Paul Krumeh, Nora Fang was "extremely, extremely fearful of her husband Si Cheng.”
Court documents reveal the deceased had two domestic violence convictions. He assaulted his wife at their home on May 5, 2002, a beating which occurred in the presence of Zhou Fang, and the victim's 84-year-old mother, documents show.
Cheng pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon and received one additional day on top of time already served, plus three years of probation.
The court also ordered Cheng undergo anger management counselling and put him under a 10-year weapons prohibition.
Mother and son moved to Ottawa even though they owned the home. The day before the killing, that home sold for $443,000.
The private investigator is meeting with Ottawa police investigators Wednesday — the same day Fang appears in court.
Excerpts of letter written by suspect
Zhou Fang is charged with allegedly killing his father with a crossbow. This fall, he wrote a letter to the governor general. The following are excerpts:
I was abused and beaten severely as a child.
We are very afraid of Si Cheng (also known as Wan Su and Wang Shu) ... He is my biological father (now as a Christian I believe that my real father is God) still legally married to my mother.
This evil being has taken everything from me and my mother.
I, my mother and my grandmother have struggled for years trying to escape from this evil ... I am very afraid that during this critical time, this evil founding himself unsuccessful at totally destroying our lives would come and kills us as he clearly knows and understands the fact that as long as he pretends to be a mentally ill person (he already learned this from various previous experiences he had with the police) he could get away easily just like the aggressor in the Greyhound incident that happened last year in Canada ...
The protection against such evil are prevention and resistance by means of stiffer domestic abuse laws that could get ride of the aggressor (by deportation and lock up - the longer the better so they wont hurt the victims and rid the society of such an evil factor) and aggressively active, free strong and secure victim support (recovery and education).
