$2m property dispute escalated into murder, court told

The house on Stilwell Road, Mt Albert, where two men were murdered in January last year. Photo / Natalie Slade

An estranged couple's dispute over a $2-million mansion allegedly escalated into the bloody deaths of two men at the property.

The High Court in Auckland has this morning heard the prosecution's opening address in a double murder trial for Cheng-Qi Wang.

Wang is alleged to have killed Zhua "Michael" Wu, 44, and Yishan "Tom" Zhong, 53, on January 14 last year.

Mr Wu's family attended the hearing, his mother sobbing as the jury entered the courtroom.

Prosecutor Kevin Glubb said Mr Wu and Mr Zhong had been acting for Wang's estranged wife in China when they entered the Mt Albert mansion last January.

The mansion had been owned by a trust that had been set up for the wife, and the two men sought to serve a trespass notice on Wang, who continued to live there, Mr Glubb said.

But he said a struggle took place in the mansion, leading to 23 knife wounds on Mr Wu, who collapsed down a central staircase and died. Mr Zhong suffered three knife wounds and a bite on his right forearm and stumbled out the front door and down the driveway before dying in a bush in the garden.

Mr Glubb said the case would hinge on the claim that Wang had acted in self-defence.

The hearing continues this afternoon with an address from the defence, led by lawyer Tom Sutcliffe.

The trial is expected to take up to four weeks, hearing from 54 witnesses, including video and written testimonies.