Mississauga man who admitted to disposing of roommate’s body found guilty of murder

A Mississauga man has been found guilty of murdering his roommate.

A jury found Shaofeng Han guilty of second-degree murder on Friday in the death of 40-year-old Yunying Pan in 2017.

The jury had been deliberating for just over one day.

During the trial, Han admitted to disposing of Pan’s body, but denied killing her.

On Aug. 4, he told the court that on Dec. 5, 2017, when he found Pan in the Mississauga townhouse where they both rented rooms, he didn’t call 911 or try to revive her because he knew she was dead and he was scared.

Pan was bloody and unconscious, lying face down near the bottom of a staircase.

Han said he decided to clean up the crime scene, dispose of her body and lie to police, fearful he would be the prime suspect in her murder and would be executed if convicted, given he was the only other occupant in the home.

During the trial, defence lawyers called an expert in the Chinese justice system by Zoom.

Dr. Grace Mou, a professor at the University of London, testified about the inadequacies of the Chinese justice system. She spoke about the high conviction rate. She said if a person is arrested, charged and convicted, they are often executed.

Mou said there are not a lot of due process rights in China.

The defence also said a blood stain belonging to another male was found at the scene.

The Crown argued that it was a rooming house and said many other men lived there over the years.

The Crown argued that Han had two possible motives.

Crown attorneys said Han had attempted to proposition her in a romantic way and she rejected him. Lawyers said the victim told a cousin living in China that she felt unsafe and wanted to move out.

Crown also argued that a possible motive was he repeatedly sent text messages to her and called her a “careless and disobedient woman.”

Han is scheduled to return to court in September for sentencing.