No sale for infamous properties

Cheng Qi Wang. Photo / APN

Two Auckland properties at the centre of a murder trial have failed to sell at auction.

The neighbouring do-up houses on Morningside Drive, opposite Westfield St Lukes, were passed in at auction.

Records show they were formerly owned by the wife of Cheng "Chris" Qi Wang, who is awaiting trial for the murder of Zhuo "Michael" Wu, 44, and 53-year-old Yishan "Tom" Zhong at Wang's $2 million home in Mt Albert on January 14 last year.

Wang denies the charges.

This week, Wang said he paid $1.7 million for the properties and placed them in his wife's name.

They were then sold for just over $1m last November to Wen Lu, whose sister Sylvia Lu is a Barfoot and Thompson real estate agent and has a long-running dispute with Wang.

His first trial at the High Court in February was aborted. The jury was told the deaths happened after a bitter marital dispute between Wang and his former wife Michelle Chen.

Wang said he was trained in a form of tai chi martial arts known as "long boxing" and was able to turn the tables against the two men who he says surprised him while he was in bed with a woman.

Wang is facing a retrial at the High Court in August.