SASCHA WIL­SON

Se­nior Re­porter

The own­er of a Chi­nese restau­rant and bar in Ste Madeleine was found bound and blood­ied in­side his busi­ness on Sun­day night, in what po­lice be­lieve was a rob­bery-homi­cide.

Po­lice iden­ti­fied the vic­tim as 49-year-old Xhi Li Li, the own­er of Yue Hua Chi­nese Restau­rant and Bar.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors said he was beat­en to death with a ba­ton.

His body was dis­cov­ered af­ter a cus­tomer went to the es­tab­lish­ment at the cor­ner of Man­a­ham­bre Road and the M2 Ring Road short­ly be­fore mid­night to make a pur­chase.

Po­lice said the cus­tomer at­tempt­ed to buy food through a small open­ing in the front door, which the pro­pri­etor typ­i­cal­ly used to con­duct sales af­ter the busi­ness was locked for the night.

Through the open­ing, the cus­tomer ob­served a large quan­ti­ty of blood on the restau­rant floor, lead­ing be­hind the counter and out of view. He im­me­di­ate­ly went to the Ste Madeleine Po­lice Sta­tion and made a re­port.

When of­fi­cers ar­rived, the front door of the restau­rant was open. They fol­lowed a trail of blood be­hind the counter and found the pro­pri­etor ly­ing on the ground in a foetal po­si­tion. His hands and feet were bound at the wrists and an­kles with duct tape, and he had vis­i­ble in­juries to his head and face.

Po­lice said Li lived along Man­a­ham­bre Road, Ste Madeleine.

Sev­er­al items were seized from the scene, in­clud­ing a blood-stained blue ban­dana, a roll of grey duct tape with blood, a gold-coloured hoop ear­ring, wet and dry swabs tak­en from a wood­en ba­ton, and a DVR and se­cu­ri­ty cam­era.

Of­fi­cers from the Homi­cide Bu­reau Re­gion III, Ste Madeleine Po­lice Sta­tion and oth­er of­fi­cers of the South­ern Di­vi­sion vis­it­ed the scene.

In­ves­ti­ga­tions con­tin­ue.