Stabbed body found stuffed into suitcase, court told

A man accused of stabbing a woman in the heart twice and putting her body in a suitcase was found in a "blood-soaked" room, a court has been told.

Peng Chen Tian, 25, is on trial in the High Court at Auckland for the murder of Yi Ren, also known as Tina. He has pleaded not guilty.

Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey said yesterday that the two had been friends but fell out over a business deal involving a Peugeot car.

On the morning of September 2, 2008, Tian went to Ms Ren's apartment and murdered her with two knives, he said.

Tian called a friend, Jing Zhang, and asked him to dump his bloody clothing, wallet and keys.

Mr Dickey said Mr Zhang, also known as Michael, drove around Mission Bay throwing the bloodied clothes and personal items in bins.

Tian made a second call, this time to the 111 emergency number, and asked for an ambulance.

"He said he was bleeding and that there was a big problem: 'I am killing.' He also said his hand was injured."

Mr Dickey said Tian later told emergency staff: "I am guilty. I stabbed a girl, I stabbed her in the neck."

The prosecutor said that minutes later, police and ambulance officers arrived and found Ms Ren's body in a suitcase. Tian had almost severed his thumb and was sitting on her bed in his underpants and singlet.

"[The room] had blood in all or most parts of it. It was somewhat blood soaked."

There were two knives. One was wrapped in a towel on the bed next to Tian. The other was on the floor near the suitcase with Ms Ren's body inside, Mr Dickey said.

Ms Ren had stab wounds to her neck, a deep wound or laceration to the top of her head and two stab wounds to her chest which punctured her heart and killed her quickly, he said.

Tian's lawyer, Paul Davison, QC, opted to make his opening statement at the conclusion of the Crown's case.

The trial is set down for four weeks. The Crown has indicated that 47 witnesses will be called and some will testify from China via a video link.