at 20:34 on July 11, 2008, EDT.
By Steve Mertl, THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER - An executive with one of Canada's major modelling agencies questions whether the agency representing murdered model Diana O'Brien did due diligence before sending her to work in Shanghai.

Police in the booming Chinese city said Friday they have arrested an 18-year-old man they say confessed to killing the young Salt Spring Island, B.C., woman during a robbery at her apartment.

O'Brien, 22, had previously modelled in Milan, Italy and arrived in China last month. She apparently told friends she was unhappy and planning to return home before her three-month contract was up.

She had been contracted to Shanghai's JH Model agency by Victoria's Barbara Coultish Agency, which represented her here.

JH billed itself as one of the leading modelling agencies in eastern China but it vanished after O'Brien was killed. Its purported offices turned out to be in a seedy apartment building where other residents knew nothing of them.

O'Brien's boyfriend and her father could not be reached for comment about the arrest in the model's death. Her mother has been living in Mexico and has also been unreachable.

In a statement after O'Brien's death, the Coultish Agency vouched for JH as a reputable agency with which it had "an excellent rapport."

But Carole Reynolds, director of Sutherland Models in Toronto, questioned whether Coultish did a thorough check on JH.

"I feel for Barbara Coultish in what's obviously an awful situation," Reynolds said in an interview.

"But truth be told, a big part of what an agency does is to make sure that the clients that their models are working for, the agencies that their models are working for, are reputable."

No one at the Coultish Agency responded to repeated requests for an interview or to explain how it vetted JH Model before sending O'Brien and her roommate Charlotte Wood of Victoria to Shanghai.

Sutherland Models, the agency for the TV program Canada's Next Top Model, has a stable of about 200 models, many of whom work overseas.

Reynolds said one of her models just returned from Shanghai.

"She loves Shanghai," Reynolds said "She makes tons of money and she has great clients there; she has great friends there.

"She thinks it's a fantastic city and she's never heard of anybody being asked dance on tables or do any of those things."

O'Brien reportedly told friends she'd expected to do runway and photo modelling but had been asked to promote whiskey and dance in nightclubs.

"It's just a different kind of world, a different kind of agency that this girl got involved in," said Reynolds.

"It wasn't the real modelling world."

Reynolds said Coultish is a well-known, established Canadian agency but wonders what steps it took to verify the claims of JH.

Sutherland, for example, employs a Calgary-based scout who travels to Asia yearly, visiting all markets and agencies.

"She takes pictures of the models' apartments and meets the bookers and has pictures of the agency," she said.

"(She) can answer every question from do they need an attachment for their hair dryer for the apartment - is the voltage right - to where's the closest store to get food they might be familiar with and all those sorts of things."

Agencies also network with each other and build personal relationships with their principals.

"I have representatives from agencies in Asia that I've been meeting once a year for the last 20 years," said Reynolds. "I know the names of their children and where they go on holiday."

China's rapid development makes those ties even more important, she said.

"China is a brand new market to us for modelling that didn't really exist five years ago," said Reynolds.

"Really there are only two agencies that I would ever send anybody to in China. They're well-established agencies that also have offices in Taipei (Taiwan) that have established reputations and have worked with our colleagues in different cities around the world."

The advent of the Internet also makes it easier for businesses like JH to misrepresent themselves, she said.

People in Shanghai's largely unregulated modelling industry tell stories of women being exploited by dubious agencies, asked to act as escorts or strip at parties.

"You have communication that isn't necessarily based on knowing what that company's all about," said Reynolds.

"A big part of an agency's job is to check out people that you're sending your models to, whether it's a photographer in Toronto or an agency in China."

That includes scoping out their living accommodations, she added, referring to reports from Shanghai that O'Brien's apartment was in a seedy part of the city.

Coultish said in its statement that JH models were escorted to their assignments but were not accompanied in their free time.

A prominent Vancouver lawyer said it would be difficult for O'Brien's family to hold the agency legally liable.

A Canadian court may not have jurisdiction over an alleged act of negligence in China and even if it did, the prospect of a financial award is remote, said Peter Ritchie.

"Our Canadian courts have said that if my 20-year-old son gets negligently run over by someone or killed by someone, I can't bring a lawsuit to recover funds except for funeral expenses," Ritchie said.

"There's no money for solace; there's no money for potential contribution to my well-being unless it's an unusual circumstance like Chinese kids look after their elderly parents."


©The Canadian Press, 2008

it is soo sad this story read it on yahoo about her death, wow.


RIP