Christchurch estate agent Yanfei Bao murder trial: Accused waives right to appear in court

The case was adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow to give Cao, who does not speak or write English, the opportunity to listen to his Chinese interpreter translate every sentence in real time.

Judge Preston told the jury: “It is very important that you understand that no negative inference can be drawn from Mr Cao’s absence from the courtroom yesterday or today.

“That is, his absence, of course, is not an admission of guilt and in no way advances the prosecution’s case.”

Cao’s lawyers said on the day the trial began on Monday that the case was far from simple and that the evidence could in no way support a conviction.

Cao, who came to New Zealand several months before the alleged murder, met Bao when she helped him buy a house for his brother-in-law when he arrived in New Zealand.

Cao had problems with English, so after that they continued to communicate, and Bao helped him find a job.

The Crown alleges Cao arranged to meet Bao at a house she was selling in Trevor Street, Hornby, claiming he had a Chinese buyer after the $650,000 three-bedroom home.

But when she arrived, the Crown alleges he attacked her, stabbed her multiple times, dragged her body from the house into a car and then dumped her in a shallow grave on a farm outside of town.

He was then caught at Christchurch International Airport trying to flee to Shanghai, the Crown told the court, while it took police 12 months to find Bao’s remains.

Yesterday Bao’s partner, laboratory technician Paul Gooch, told the court how the events unfolded on July 19 last year. In a five-year relationship with Bao, the last time he saw her was when he kissed her on the forehead before leaving for work around 7:45 am.

She never returned home that night. He described the horror of realizing she was gone.

The house on Trevor Street was later subjected to a forensic examination. The Crown reports that blood found at the back door and in the front bedroom matched Bao’s DNA, while blood found in the trunk and rear of Cao’s car also matched Bao’s DNA.

Video surveillance from various cameras, along with telephone interview data and geolocation data, allowed the defendants’ movements around the city to be tracked after the attack, the Crown argued.

Forensic pathologist Dr Leslie Anderson performed an autopsy on Bao’s body, which was in an “advanced stage of decomposition” by the time she was found.

Anderson concluded that she died as a result of a brutal attack with two distinct stab wounds to the abdomen.

The trial will resume tomorrow.

Katie Oliver is a Christchurch-based multimedia journalist and breaking news reporter.