The prosecution in the trial of Fang Sun has told the jury he ''obsessively surveilled'' Auckland businesswoman Elizabeth Zhong before her death and there can be no doubt he murdered her.
But Sun, who has pleaded not guilty, maintains he did not kill his former business partner - someone else did.
At 3:28am on November 28, 2020, a barely detectable figure can be seen on CCTV walking in the direction of Suzetta Place where Elizabeth Zhong lived.
The Crown says it was Fang Sun and he was on his way to her house to kill her.
"He stabbed Elizabeth Zhong to very vulnerable parts of her body," said Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes. "Fang Sun nearly cut Ms Zhong's head off."
The Crown says Sun then placed Zhong into a suitcase. He then put her in the boot of her own black Land Rover, driving the vehicle out of her garage and briefly parking the car outside his own home just a few blocks away.
"He stops in that area out the front for 15 minutes and 18 seconds," Kayes said.
The Land Rover was later found around the corner by police with Zhong's body still inside.
Zhong and Sun were once trusted business partners owning wineries and film companies. But the Crown says their relationship became hostile by 2019. Sun believed Zhong owed him $26 million.
"The bitter dispute over money is what prompted this violent retribution," Kayes said.
The Crown says Fang Sun carried out ''obsessive surveillance'' of Zhong in the lead-up to her death, hiring a private investigator to follow her and put a tracking device under her car that the Crown argues Sun tried to remove after killing her.
"And it's resulted in those fingermarks in blood at the back and underneath the car," Kayes said.
During the trial the defence asked Zhong's ex-boyfriend Kai Gui Zheng if he had killed the Auckland businesswoman. On Monday the Crown told the jury that was impossible for several reasons - one being Kai Gui Zheng didn't know where Sun lived and had no reason to park Zhong's black Land Rover outside his home.
"How can Kai Gui Zheng frame Sun, if he doesn't know where he lives?" Kayes asked.
On Tuesday the defence will give its closing statement to the jury before it retires to deliberate on a verdict.
