Jurors shown knives found near murdered woman

Yi Ren. Photo / Supplied

The knives found near the body of a stabbed woman in a suitcase have been handed around a jury in a transparent case.

Peng Chen Tian, 25, is charged with the murder of Yi Ren in September 2008. He has pleaded not guilty.

The jury has been shown two knives found at the scene. One of them, a 33cm long kitchen knife, still has bloodstains on it.

Police and ambulance officers arrived to find Tian in Ms Ren's blood-soaked room in his underwear and t-shirt on September 2, 2008. The body of Ms Ren was found in a suitcase in the corner of her room.

Sergeant Duncan Hall was in charge of the scene at the apartment and has described a blood-spattered room.

He said letters addressed to Tian were found in Ms Ren's room, as well as a business diploma. Other documents, including a passport of Ms Ren's, were found.

Mr Hall said clothing and bedding with blood spatter and blood drops on them were also taken by police for further testing.

Under cross-examination by Tian's lawyer, Paul Davison QC, Mr Hall was questioned about a latex glove found hanging on a kitchen cupboard door near two bloodied purple gloves.

Mr Hall confirmed that the latex glove had not been swabbed by police or uplifted by ESR scientists.

Mr Davison asked why the latex glove had not been tested.

"There were gloves there for either one person to wear two gloves, or two people to wear one each," Mr Davison said.

Mr Hall agreed. He said he considered testing the glove but decided against it and that he believed it had since been destroyed by police.

Mr Hall also confirmed that four police officers and a police dog had been through the scene before he arrived at 6.13pm to secure it.

Yesterday, crown prosecutor Brian Dickey said that Ms Ren and Tian 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 told the court.

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.