Man who stabbed roommates faces deportation

The unprovoked and unexplained stabbing of a Calgary couple by their roommate could mean his deportation, court heard Friday.

Defence counsel Adriano Iovinelli said Qisong Zhou is aware of the immigration risk his guilty plea to two counts of aggravated assault is going to have.

And Zhou himself, a native of China who has permanent resident status in Canada, told court through a Mandarin interpreter he doesn’t want to return to his homeland.

“I do want to stay in Canada. I will behave,” Zhou told Justice Beth Hughes.

But the Court of Queen’s Bench judge told Zhou that decision will be up to immigration officials, as his conviction and sentence deem him ineligible to stay in Canada.

“I have no ability to make any decision whether or not you stay in Canada,” Hughes told Zhou, 52. “It’s not my decision.”

Zhou pleaded guilty in connec- tion with an Aug. 15, 2016, incident at the Huntington Hills basement suite he shared with married couple Xianhe Guan and Yanhong Chen.

Crown prosecutor Todd Buziak said Zhou came up behind Guan, placed a cloth over his mouth and then began stabbing him with scissors in the neck. When Guan’s wife Chen attempted to intercede, she too was stabbed.

An elderly couple living upstairs came down and temporarily distracted Zhou, allowing the couple to retreat to a bedroom.

Buziak said Zhou broke partially through the door and stabbed Chen in the face.

Zhou then left, banging on the upstairs residents’ door before leaving the area.

He was arrested the following day walking along Deerfoot Trail.

Hughes accepted a joint submission for a four-year sentence.

With credit for pre-trial custody, Zhou has 21 months left to serve.