Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao murder trial: Chinese national accused of luring her to house and stabbing her, with possible ‘sexual element’ to attack
Tingjun Cao is standing trial at the High Court in Christchurch, charged with killing Yanfei Bao (background). Pool photo / Iain McGregor / Composite Image
Tingjun Cao is standing trial at the High Court in Christchurch, charged with killing Yanfei Bao (background). Pool photo / Iain McGregor / Composite Image
Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao was lured to a house she was selling by a Chinese national who claimed he had a buyer, stabbed multiple times, put in the boot of a car, and dumped in a shallow grave in a rural area, a court heard today.
Her alleged killer then tried to flee the country.
After a jury of six men and six women was empanelled this morning, the Crown outlined their case against Cao.
Yanfei Bao. Photo / Supplied
Mum-of-one Bao was last seen alive on July 19 last year, when she arrived at a house on Trevor St in the suburb of Hornby, set to show a potential buyer through.
A week later, her disappearance was upgraded to a homicide investigation.
Cao was later charged with murder, although it took police more than a year to find Bao’s remains, in an area of private farmland in the Greenpark area south of Christchurch.
Prosecutor Cameron Stuart outlined the Crown’s case against Cao this afternoon.
The Crown case against Cao
Stuart said while the Crown does not have to prove a motive, a graphic photograph allegedly of Bao bloodied and naked from the waist down, which was said to have been found on Cao’s phone, may suggest there was a “sexual element” behind Cao’s actions, which he denies.
Cao moved to New Zealand from China in March last year, the court heard, leaving behind a wife and two sons.
When he arrived in Christchurch, he lived with his brother-in-law and later helped them buy a new house with a $10,000 cash deposit. Bao was the agent for Harcourts, which she had joined earlier last year.
She stayed in touch with Cao — who couldn’t read, write, or speak English — through a Chinese messaging app.
He had struggled for work and she was helping him find a new job after an initial opportunity did not work out.
On the morning of July 19 last year, he sent her a message asking if she had any houses on the market as a friend in China wanted to buy a property, the Crown alleges.
She replied she had several for sale around the city and asked what the buyer’s needs were, the court heard.
Cao allegedly replied his friend wanted a three-bedroom house up to $650,000 in a good location.
They arranged to meet at the Trevor St property, the court heard.
Justice Lisa Preston. Pool Photo / Iain McGregor/The Press
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) was played to the jury, which the Crown says showed the pair each turning up at the house.
Bao arrived before him, took photos and videos of the house, and phoned a friend in China to ask about transferring money from China to New Zealand as she had a client interested in buying a house.
The Crown case is that Cao attacked her inside the house by stabbing her, before dragging her through the house and putting her inside the boot of his car.
It’s alleged he drove her across the city, bought a spade, and then dumped her in a shallow grave on a farm south of the city.
Cao was later arrested at Christchurch International Airport with a passport and one-way ticket to Shanghai, the Crown says.
The Trevor St house was later forensically examined. The Crown says blood found at the back entry and in the front bedroom matched with Bao’s DNA, while blood discovered in the boot and rear footwell of Cao’s car also matched Bao, the Crown told the jury.
CCTV from various cameras, along with phone polling and geolocation data, also traced the murder accused’s movements across the city after the attack, the Crown alleges.
For months, police could not access Bao’s phone which was protected by a PIN number that they did not know.
But dogged work by a police officer prompted them to try a number which worked.
The “breakthrough” meant they could access health data which greatly narrowed the search at a farm – and even showed the steps taken at the location, and would later take officers to a windbreak of trees where her body would eventually be found.
Forensic pathologist Dr Leslie Anderson conducted an autopsy on Bao’s body which was in an “advanced state of decomposition” by the time she was found.
Anderson concluded she had died in a violent attack, with two distinct stab wounds around her abdomen.
The defence
An opening address by defence counsel Josh MacLeod said the case - and the evidence - was far from simple.
“But what is simple is Mr Cao’s position. Mr Cao denies killing Ms Bao and the defence position is that the evidence cannot sustain a guilty verdict in any way. A not guilty verdict would be the only logical result,” he said.
The high-profile disappearance of Bao, which made headlines and saw fliers distributed across the city, likely captured the attention of New Zealanders because it seemed that she went to work one morning and never came home.
But MacLeod reminded the jury not to allow sympathy or prejudice influence their thinking and in assessing the case through a logical lens.
He also questioned how wide of a net the police cast in their investigations.
“Do not jump to conclusions and do not assume. Logic must prevail,” he said, adding that the jury will be left with reasonable questions at the end of the evidence.
“Remember, you must be sure.”
The trial, before Justice Lisa Preston, which is expected to hear from more than 70 Crown witnesses, continues tomorrow.
