KEY POINTS:
The fatal kidnapping of Wan Biao - whose partially decapitated body was found in a suitcase floating in the Waitemata Harbour last Easter - was planned months in advance, a jury has heard.
But, despite all the planning, the three accused allegedly left behind a trail of evidence which led to their arrest for murder.
Yesterday, that trio - Xiangxin Cui, Zheng Li and Yuxi Wang - sat quietly in the back of the High Court at Auckland, for the first day of their trial. They are each charged with Mr Biao's kidnap and murder in Auckland during Easter 2006.
In her opening address, Crown prosecutor Christine Gordon told the jury what should have been a "pleasant and uneventful start" to the long weekend turned grim when two brothers out sailing found a suitcase floating in the harbour.
Unable to pull the heavy suitcase on board, the men opened the zipper to make a "startling and grisly discovery".
"Inside the suitcase they could see a body."
When police recovered the suitcase they not only found Mr Biao's body but a "number of crucial items of evidence" including two saws which had been used to try to cut off the 19-year-old student's head. They also found bloodied towels and a pair of trousers which had a passport in the pocket.
Ms Gordon said one of the towels had a label which led them back to Elliott St Apartments Hotel where, in room 408, they found the murder scene. The room had been booked and paid for by Wang.
A barcode on one of the saws led police to the downtown Warehouse where security camera footage and transaction details came back to Xiangxin Cui. The passport belonged to Zheng Li.
Ms Gordon said in the months leading up to the murder Cui and Li decided to kidnap someone and discussed their plans with Wang and Lianda Yin.
Yin was originally charged with being an accessory to murder but will now give evidence for the Crown instead of facing trial.
"They were open about their plans," said Ms Gordon. "They were open about the fact that they were likely to kill the person they kidnapped."
It is alleged the group set their sights on Mr Biao, a student they had met in Auckland and socialised with.
At about 12.30pm on Thursday April 13, after Cui had bought the saws at the Warehouse, Li started texting Mr Biao and they arranged to meet that night.
At 8.45pm Cui, Li and Mr Biao were captured on security camera going into the hotel.
"Wan Biao was not seen alive again," said Ms Gordon.
The court heard Mr Biao was tied to a chair. A series of ransom calls, asking for $800,000 in cash, were made to his parents in China. At one stage Li left to withdraw $800 from Mr Biao's account.
"Sometime after that second call Cui and Li strangled Wan Biao and didn't stop until he was dead."
Ms Gordon said one of the accused also grabbed a knife and stabbed it into Mr Biao's neck, "just to be sure".
They then tried to cut up his body but upon finding it too difficult, stuffed him into a suitcase which, with the help of Mr Yin, was thrown off the end of Princes Wharf.
Cui returned to the apartment to clean up, then dumped rubbish at an apartment the friends stayed at, before heading to the airport where he booked a flight to Sydney. He planned to open a bank account there for the ransom to be paid into.
On Saturday Wang returned to the apartment to check it was clean before checking out.
The trial is expected to last a month.
THE TRIAL
* The victim: 19-year-old Chinese student Wan Biao, whose partially decapitated body was found stuffed into a suitcase that was dumped in the Waitemata Harbour in April 2006.
* The accused: Chinese students Xiangxin Cui, Zheng Li and Yuxi Wang.
* The charges: Murder and kidnap.
