Chinese national Tingjun Cao has been found guilty of murdering Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao by a High Court jury.
The jury delivered its verdict after deliberating following a seven-week trial at which Cao sacked his defence lawyers and represented himself with the help of a trio of interpreters.
On Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Pip Currie told the jury the case against Cao was an “absolute slam dunk” with compelling and overwhelming evidence showing his guilt.
In her closing argument she outlined the abundance of data, including that which placed them together at the time of Bao’s disappearance and death and ultimately where her body was found.
DNA also linked them both to the Hornby property from which Bao disappeared, Cao’s palm print was found on her broken cellphone and a photo of a naked woman’s body taken by Cao’s phone and later deleted.
Cao claimed police officers had lied, fabricated and planted evidence, and doctored images and videos to blame him.
While delivering his closing argument, he regularly turned and spoke to the glass panes of an empty dock.
At other times, he rambled through measurements and minutiae that were difficult to link to his innocence or the case.
The Crown argued Bao, 44, disappeared on July 19, 2023 while showing the Trevor St house to Cao.
Her husband, Paul Gooch, reported her missing that night and her cellphone was found in grass on the side of the southern motorway on July 21.
Cao, 53, who arrived in New Zealand months before Bao’s murder, was arrested at Christchurch Airport, with a one-way ticket to Shanghai days after her disappearance.
He was initially charged with Bao’s kidnapping but two days later, police said they did not believe the mother-of-one was alive and detectives launched a homicide investigation.
Cao was charged with Yanfei Bao’s murder last September, to which he pleaded not guilty. A kidnapping charge was later dropped.
Bao lived in Christchurch with Gooch and her daughter who was aged 9 when she disappeared.
Her body was found just over a year later on July 31, buried in a shallow grave along a treeline on a Greenpark farm.
The trial before Justice Lisa Preston began on October 21 and was punctuated by a number of adjournments.
Cao, who pleaded not guilty, was initially represented by Colin Eason and Joshua Macleod, but fired his lawyers within weeks.
Justice Preston appointed the men as standby counsel, which meant they could assist with tasks such as cross-examining witnesses, advising on questions of law or appropriate behaviour in court.
She told the jury at the time that Cao was within his rights to defend himself and she believed it was in the best interests of justice for the trial to continue.
Scores of witnesses gave evidence, including on CCTV footage, cellphone data, social media records, blood stains found at the vacant Trevor Street property for sale and in Cao’s car. The court also watched a six-hour police interview with Cao, recorded days after Bao was reported missing.
Justice Preston repeatedly warned Cao about asking irrelevant questions, making meandering and repetitive statements and accusing witnesses of lying.
