January 12, 1999

TWO INDIVIDUALS ARRESTED AND CHARGED IN MURDER OF  CHINESE RESTAURANT DELIVERY MAN

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the arrest of a 21 year old man and a 14 year old youth on charges of murdering the owner of a Chinese restaurant during a robbery which took place while the victim was delivering an order at an apartment building in Hollis last month. The older defendant is also charged in three unrelated robberies and an attempted robbery.

District Attorney Brown said, "Crimes such as those charged in this case are extremely upsetting on a number of levels. They are random acts of violence -- crimes of opportunity -- and they involve vulnerable victims. In three of the instances the victims were individuals making Chinese Restaurant deliveries -- and in another the victim was an 86 year old woman entering her apartment building. In one case a hammer was used -- in two, a knife was displayed and in a third the knife was used to stab the victim to death."

According to the District Attorney, the victim of the homicide was the owner of a restaurant called the "China Buffet" located on Hillside Avenue at 204th Street in Jamaica. He had a wife and children and was delivering an order late in the evening when he was brutally stabbed twice in the chest. His money was taken and he was left to die as his assailants ran.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendants as Donnail Branch, 21, and Matthew Scott, 14. They are accused of killing Mr. Li Rong Lin, 44, who resided in Queens Village at the time of his death. The defendants are charged with murder in the second degree, robbery in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the murder of Mr. Lin. The defendant Branch is also charged with three additional robberies and one attempted robbery in unrelated cases. If convicted of the murder charge the defendant Branch faces a maximum penalty of 25 years to life in prison. The defendant Scott faces 9 years to life in prison as a juvenile offender upon conviction of the murder charge.

In addition to the charges brought against the defendant Branch in connection with the murder of Mr. Lin, he is charged with robbing another delivery man on November 3, 1998 on the street near 88-40 173rd Street. He is also accused of robbing a third delivery man on December 24, 1998 as he came out of an elevator at 87-20 175th Street. On January 3, 1999, it is charged that he and an unidentified accomplice attempted to rob the employees of a restaurant at 170-12 Hillside Avenue but the robbery was thwarted by an employee who chased them out of the restaurant with a meat clever. The defendant Branch is also accused of robbing an 86 year old woman in the lobby of her building on January 4, 1999. District Attorney Brown said "the defendant Branch faces multiple consecutive sentences on each of the robberies upon conviction."

According to the District Attorney, Mr. Lin was killed at about 11:00 pm on the night of December 10, 1998 in the lobby of an apartment building at 104-25 195th Street in Hollis where he was delivering a food order. It is alleged that the defendants went to the building together, that the defendant Branch entered the building behind Mr. Lin and demanded money while the defendant Scott stood directly outside the building. It is charged that the defendant Branch stabbed Mr. Lin in the chest twice during the robbery and that the defendants then fled the scene together.

The defendants were arrested on January 6 as a result of information developed by detectives of the 103rd Precinct Detective Squad.

It should be noted that an arrest is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Assistant District Attorney Craig S. Brown of District Attorney Brown's Homicide Investigations Unit under the supervision of ADA Peter T. Reese and the overall supervision of EADA Gregory L. Lasak is in charge of the case.