Jennifer Pan's father survived the murder plot she orchestrated. Here's where he is today.
Netflix's "What Jennifer Did" focuses on the 2010 murder of Bich Ha Pan and attempted murder of Hann Pan.
A Canadian court found that their daughter Jennifer was guilty of orchestrating the incident.
Hann Pan requested a non-communication order for his daughter, and lives with his injuries.
A new Netflix documentary, "What Jennifer Did," follows the story of Canadian woman Jennifer Pan, who was found guilty of conspiring to have her parents murdered.
In November 2010, a group of men entered the Pan household in Markham, Ontario. They killed Pan's mother, Bich Ha Pan, and shot her father, Huei Hann Pan, in the head and shoulder. Pan recounted in police interviews after the incident that she had been tied to the banister.
However, police arrested Pan after her father, who survived the shooting, was able to recount his experience of the incident. And after a lengthy trial in 2014, Pan and three other co-accused (including her former boyfriend, Daniel Wong) were found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder, and received life in prison sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years. However, an appeals court ordered a retrial for the first-degree murder charge, and the case currently sits with the Supreme Court of Canada.
Hann Pan was granted a non-communication order following the trial. Here's where he is now.
Hann Pan survived the home invasion that the court found his daughter guilty of orchestrating
Reporter Karen K. Ho, who grew up with Pan and Wong, reported for Toronto Life that Hann Pan immigrated to Canada from Vietnam in 1979 as a refugee, and married his wife Bich Ha Pan in Toronto. They had two children: Jennifer in 1986, and a son named Felix in 1989.
Toronto Life's account of Pan's childhood recounts the pressure that Hann and Bich placed on her to excel in academics and extracurriculars, including piano and figure skating. Hann, per the publication, prevented her from attending school dances and parties, as well as dating. As Pan grew older, her academic performance turned average, and she began to lie to her parents about her grades.
Eventually, she lied to them about attending university, instead secretly working several jobs while pretending to go to class. At one point, she lived part-time with Wong's family, telling her parents that she was staying with a friend in the city during the school week. After she lied about working a volunteer job, they followed her and learned that she hadn't been employed there. The lies fell apart, and Pan's parents told her she couldn't see Wong and placed restrictions on her travel and communication, according to Toronto Life.
In 2010, Pan began to plot her parents' murder, hiring Lenford Crawford, one of Wong's acquaintances. Hann survived the November 2010 incident and was placed in a three-day medically induced coma. Pan underwent two interviews with police, which are depicted at length in "What Jennifer Did," maintaining that she was also a victim of the break-in.
But when Hann woke up, his testimony contradicted some of what his daughter had told police. Specifically, he remembered her speaking amiably with one of the men who entered the Pan household, and that she was walking around unbound during the invasion. Police brought Pan in for a third interview, also seen in the documentary, and ultimately arrested her. They arrested Wong, Crawford, and two other men involved in the break-in in early 2011.
Hann Pan testified during his daughter's trial and requested no communication from her
Pan's trial began in 2014 and lasted almost 10 months, according to Toronto Life. Per CBC, she and her co-accused pleaded not guilty. Hann Pan testified during the trial about what he recalled from the night of his wife's murder, and other circumstances of Pan's life.
"I was very upset because all our effort was to help her attend school and she was not," he told the court, according to CBC. "I told her to cease the relationship with Danny Wong or wait until I'm dead."
Pan was sentenced in January 2015, along with three of her co-accused, including Wong and Crawford. They were found guilty of first-degree murder, receiving a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, and attempted murder, receiving a life sentence. The fifth man, Eric Carty, was tried separately after his lawyer fell ill, and died in prison in 2018.
Hann wasn't present in court for his daughter's sentencing but submitted a written statement.
"When I lost my wife, I lost my daughter at the same time," he said in the statement, according to the CBC. "I hope my daughter Jennifer thinks about what happened to her family and can become a good, honest person someday."
According to Toronto Life, the court issued two non-communication orders: one between the defendants, and another between Pan and her father and brother, who requested it. Pan's lawyer said in court at the time that Pan remained willing to speak with her family.
Per Toronto Life's 2015 report, Hann attempted to sell his home, but was unable to find a buyer. He lived with relatives nearby at the time and was unable to work following the incident. He also experienced chronic pain, anxiety, and insomnia. And in the years since the high-profile incident, he's remained out of the public eye.
In May 2023, the Ontario Appeal Court ordered a retrial for the first-degree murder charge after finding that the judge had not suggested alternative possible verdicts like second-degree murder or manslaughter to the jury, per CBC. The case is now with the Supreme Court of Canada, per the Markham Economist & Sun, which will make a decision about whether to hear it. If not, Pan and the other defendants will be able to seek parole immediately.
Read the original article on Business Insider
