A number of witnesses testified Thursday in the trial of two Chinese students accused of attacking a third Chinese student at a karaoke club Jan. 31 2014, the date of Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival.
Interpreters were on hand during the questions to bridge the language barrier between the attorneys and the witnesses, although most answers were given in English.
The two defendants, 21-year-old student Shan Gao and 24-year-old Meng Long Li, a former student, are charged with intent to do bodily harm less than murder.
Witnesses had varying relationships with the defendants, with some being close friends and others having barely known them. And while most of them were able to connect one defendant, Meng Long Li, to the club that night, none of them could recall if Shan Gao was present.
The story of the assault was mainly confirmed by the witness testimonies, with a group of people coming into the karaoke club and beating the victim, Yan Li, with one striking him with a plastic water pitcher 20-50 times until it broke, causing a 4-centimeter long, 1-centimeter deep laceration behind Li's right ear.
Mark Shank, a supervising physician at Sparrow Hospital the night that Li was brought in, said it was a "fairly large wound," requiring three sutures and 10 staples, but in an attack of the size claimed by prosecution he would have expected more severe injuries.
When questions turned towards the alleged gang, Chengguan, all of the witnesses and experts said they had never heard of it, although most understood its connotation in China as a government or police agency with a negative reputation.
Chengguan stickers had been seen on the cars of one of the defendants, however witness and mathematics senior Sijiang Liu denied its criminal status, saying "they just did that for fun."
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