A court has seen cellphone videos of Elizabeth Zhong filmed by a private investigator who says he sent them to the man accused of murdering her.
Fang Sun has pleaded not guilty to killing the Auckland businesswoman, and on Thursday his trial heard that he had hired a private investigator to follow Zhong before her death.
Zhong was unaware of her movements being followed.
On Thursday, the investigator who recorded the videos was called as a witness.
He said he watched her for murder-accused Sun, who said Zhong had defrauded him.
"He mentioned many times that Ms Zhong had… ruined his life."
Jun Jin, whose face cannot be shown, told the court his surveillance began in July 2020.
This included following Zhong. He would sit in his car and watch her Suzetta Place house, sending video and messages to Sun, making sure she still lived there.
"By sitting in the street I was able to see whether there were people in the dining room slash kitchen," he said.
"I would take photos of the address and send to Mr Sun via WeChat."
Jin said he gave Sun a rate of $200 to $300 per hour for his surveillance and told him if the work went for a long time it would cost $30,000 in total.
In 2020 Jin's brother in China was paid by Sun in Chinese RMB, worth $15,000.
Jin also told the court he had put a tracking device on Zhong's car.
"After she parked her car and went inside to the supermarket, I put the tracking device underneath her Land Rover."
The 55-year-old woman was found dead in her car boot in November 2020, parked only a short distance from her east Auckland home.
Two months later Sun was charged with her murder.
The pair had been business partners, but before her death, Sun had filed a legal claim against Zhong amounting to $25 million.
Sun maintains he was not the person who killed Zhong. Now it will be for the jury to decide why she was being watched so closely before her death.
