Just over a year ago, Liu Quing's extended family dug deep to raise £15,000 to send the 19-year-old student to Ireland to study English. Last night, Liu Quing's family was again raising money - this time to send a relative to Ireland to identify her murdered corpse.
The bodies of Liu Quing and her friend, 19-year-old Yue Feng, were discovered in their burnt-out apartment at Blackhall Square off North King St early on March 14th. It appears they were strangled before the apartment was set on fire.
Yesterday, Liu Quing's family spoke to The Irish Times, the first time they have publicly commented on the murder. Speaking from his home in Shenyang city in north-east China last night, her uncle, Mr Song Shoutian, said the 19-year-old student last spoke with her family on February 5th.
"She rang about once a month and wrote often. She really liked her life in Ireland and was getting on well. When she last called there was no indication that anything was wrong. She seemed happy as usual".
Mr Song said the family wanted Quing to have the best future possible. "We all got together and collected money so she could go to Ireland. We raised 150,000 RMB (£15,000)."
On Tuesday the family got the devastating news of Quing's death. Her parents are divorced and her mother, Mrs Song Xiu Li, is reported to be critically ill after being told of the murder. She is in hospital in Jiamusi city in Heilongjiang Province where she moved when her marriage broke up. Mr Song said a family member was with her 24 hours a day. Quing's father is in deep shock and cannot believe his daughter is gone.
"We only have enough money to send one person to Ireland to identify the body and to bring her home", Mr Song said.
He said Quing and the other murdered student were friends and not sweethearts. "They are from the same city and became friendly in Dublin. There was nothing more to their relationship", he said.
The family had no idea of anything sinister or amiss in Quing's life. She was making good progress at her English. Her ambition was to become fluent enough in English to be able to go to third-level college in Dublin and get a qualification.
Quing arrived in Ireland last March and studied English at the Swan Training Centre in Grafton Street. She worked part-time in a Chinese restaurant in Malahide. Her friend Feng also arrived in Dublin a year ago and studied English at the Centre for English Studies in Dame Street. He worked in a pub in Ballinteer. Their bodies were discovered last Wednesday after neighbours heard an explosion and fire swept through the apartment they shared.
There has been speculation the killer or killers returned to the building to destroy the bodies and evidence.
A spokesperson at the Public Security Office in Shenyang said it believed the parents of Feng were also preparing to travel to Ireland to identify their son's body. His family members declined to talk to The Irish Times.
Gardai investigating the double murder are seeking a Chinese man who left the Blackhall Square apartments about the time the murders occurred, writes Jim Cusack, Security Editor.
Video footage from a security camera is understood to show the man leaving the apartment building. Gardai are seeking the man for questioning, but it is not clear if he is still in the country.
It is also understood detectives have ruled out any racial or organised crime-related motive in the murder.