Source: Vancouver Sun

METRO VANCOUVER -- A Richmond man whose one-year probation for assaulting his wife had just expired has been charged with stabbing the woman to death in a Richmond McDonald's last week.

Court records show Chang Xi Wang, 33, pleaded guilty to assaulting Yan Lin on May 9, 2008, and received a conditional discharge on Aug. 26, 2008.

He was given one year of probation and a one-year no-contact order -- both of which expired just two days before Lin and her male companion Zhe Hu, were attacked late Friday.

Lin was 36; Hu was 37. Both were from Richmond.

Wang was arrested Friday night, not long after the attack.

"Patrons and employees of the restaurant were quick to offer a description," Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said.

Wang made a brief court appearance in Richmond Monday. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

He has been remanded in custody to await a bail hearing Sept. 14. No members of the family of the victims appeared to be in court Monday.

Carr confirmed that Wang and Lin were married, although the court orders meant they would have been separated.

"They were married, and the relationship to the other male, the police aren't prepared to get into," Carr said.

© Copyright The Vancouver Sun

Added: September 22, 2009