Cafe worker ‘stabs man to death over gambling debt’

A 60-YEAR-OLD is accused of killing another man in Melbourne’s Chinatown in broad daylight to avoid paying back a gambling debt, a court has heard.

Stabbing

A CAFE worker is accused of stabbing of a man in Melbourne’s Chinatown to death in broad daylight to rid himself of a gambling debt, a court has heard.

Fai Sing Yiu, 60, is on trial for the murder of Alan Wong, 64, who the Crown says died after being stabbed in the chest in the Golden Square carpark on October 29, 2014.

Yiu borrowed money from Mr Wong, a father of four, to support his gambling habit and owed about $24,000 at the time of the killing, prosecutor Sharn Coombes said in opening the Victorian Supreme trial.

The defence did not deny Yiu stabbed Mr Wong, but said he was acting in self defence.

Yiu was a problem gambler and Mr Wong was a loan shark who was part of a triad, his barrister Jarred Williams said.

Yiu was behind on his payments when Mr Wong called him at his workplace.

“Mr Yiu armed himself with a knife in fear of being attacked by Mr Wong or one of his criminal associates,” the defence said. “The focus of this trial turns on why Mr Yiu did what he did.”

The trial continues.