Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal involving estate of slain West Vancouver multimillionaire

Canada’s highest court has refused to hear an appeal from a woman claiming to be the only spouse of a multimillionaire who died a grisly death outside his West Vancouver home.

The Supreme Court of Canada’s rejection of the application from a woman only identified in court records as Mother 1, ends her efforts to be declared the spouse of Gang Yuan, who was shot dead and dismembered in May 2015.

If she had been successful, Mother 1 would have been eligible for half of Yuan’s estimated seven to 21-million dollar estate while her child — and the other four Yuan fathered with separate women — would have split the remainder.

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Today’s high court decision upholds B.C. court rulings that found no “marriage-like relationship” between Mother 1 and Yuan, even though the two met before Yuan came to Canada and he supported her in China, where she lived with and cared for his parents.

Yuan, who died without a will, was killed by friend and business partner Li Zhou after the two had a vicious argument, in part because Yuan had offered to marry Zhou’s beloved and only daughter — an offer Zhou found insulting because he disapproved of Yuan’s lifestyle.

Zhou — who was eventually convicted of manslaughter — cut Yuan’s body into what the court called “108 discrete fragments,” and was sentenced in 2020 to just over 10 years in prison but, due to COVID delays and time served, his sentence was reduced to just over two years behind bars.