Yanfei Bao case: Murder accused Tingjun Cao storms out of courtroom during trial

The trial of Tingjun Cao, who denies murdering Yanfei Bao, has started at the High Court in Christchurch today. Photo / Pool / Iain McGregor

An earlier version of this story incorrectly named the witness accused of lying by the defendant. The Herald apologises for the error.

The man accused of murdering Christchurch real estate Yanfei Bao stormed out of the courtroom at his trial this afternoon, accusing a witness of lying.

Tingjun Cao, 53, denies killing 44-year-old Bao on July 19 last year and is standing trial in the High Court at Christchurch.

During today’s trial, the visibly and audibly frustrated Cao stood up and left after his lawyers’ cross-examination.

According to his translator, Cao claimed one witness - a builder working on a property nearby where Yanfei was showing an open home - had not been telling the truth.

An open home was held at the property where the Crown alleges Bao was stabbed to death four days after she went missing, the trial heard today.

Bao was last seen heading to show a house to a prospective client on Trevor St, Hornby, where the Crown alleges she was killed by Cao.

According to RNZ, witness and Harcourts real estate agent Steven Golding earlier told the court he worked at the same company as Bao but had never met her face-to-face. Golding said he spoke to Bao on the day she vanished.

“I had a few missed calls from Yanfei in the morning, and then I spoke to her sort of mid-morning and then also engaged text conversation with her after that, and that was the last conversation I had with her.

“She was just enquiring around [a house for sale in] Trevor St, and if it was vacant and the lockbox code… she didn’t say why, but it’s a common thing to ask if it’s vacant to let their owners know if they can go there or not.”

Golding confirmed an open home was held at the Trevor St property four days later on July 23, RNZ reported.

He said he was not aware of any cleaning inside the house before the open home, but he visited the property beforehand.

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

Cao struggled with English, so they stayed in touch after that, with Bao helping him find a job.

The Crown claims Cao had arranged to meet Bao at the Trevor St house that she was selling, claiming he had a Chinese buyer who wanted a $650,000 three-bedroom house.

But when she arrived, the Crown alleges he attacked, stabbing her multiple times, dragging her body out of the house and into a car before dumping her in a shallow grave on a farm outside the city.

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

Today’s courtroom drama follows an incident yesterday when Cao refused to stay in court for his trial.

Justice Lisa Preston told the court Cao has requested not to be present in the courtroom during his trial, waiving his right to appear.

It delayed the case until 10am today.

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