By ALEXANDER BRUZUAL Monday, October 8 2012

BUSINESSMAN Chang Xia Oseng, 33, became the fourth Chinese national to be murdered this year when he was fatally shot on Saturday night inside his Chinese restaurant. Police reported that at 9 pm, Oseng was at the counter of the Golden Girl Chinese Restaurant off the Eastern Main Road in Barataria near the Morvant intersection, when a man entered the restaurant.

Pulling out a gun from his pants pocket, the man announced a hold-up and ordered Oseng to hand over cash from the register. However, police reported that Oseng resisted the gunman, following which a loud explosion was heard.

The gunman then exited the restaurant and escaped. Meanwhile, employees in the restaurant went to Oseng’s aid after they found him slumped on the ground, bleeding from a gunshot wound to his face. He died a short while later. A party of officers from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations and the Barataria Police Station responded, and the area was cordoned off as police investigators combed the crime scene for clues.

Oseng’s killing brought the murder toll up to 317, according to Newsday’s statistics. Three months ago, 60-year-old Jian Hua Yang, and his 60-year-old wife Yu Xiu Hua were shot and killed during a robbery at their Chinese restaurant in Cunupia.

According to police, at about 9.45 pm on July 12, Yang and his wife were at their business place, located on the ground floor of their home off the Southern Main Road, when gunmen entered and without warning, shot the two Chinese nationals. The assailants then seized a quantity of cash and a laptop before fleeing. The couple’s daughter-in-law, Gu Yan Yo, 30, who was on the top floor of the building, heard the gunshots and ran downstairs where she found the couple. Xiu hua died on the scene, while her husband succumbed to his injuries the following day at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

On January 13, Yu Quan Ue was killed following an argument outside the Wing Hong Restaurant, in Chaguanas. Ue, reportedly lived at Caparo Valley Road in Longdenville, Chaguanas.

Police reported that at about 11 pm, both Ue and another man were heard arguing loudly in Chinese in the carpark outside the restaurant, which is located on the same compound where Ue lived.

Patrons heard a scream and saw a Chinese national, who frequented the business place, fleeing the scene. The report added that upon checking outside, patrons discovered Ue on the ground in a pool of blood with stab wounds to the chest and back. The weapon used to commit the act was not found.