Moment cops found decomposing corpse of alleged murder victim Qiong Yan locked in toolbox

The man accused of murdering a Chinese student in a Brisbane apartment allegedly had a conversation with police just moments after her body was found in a locked toolbox.

Yang Zhao has pleaded not guilty to the murder of flatmate Qiong Yan in a Hamilton apartment.

The detective who found the decomposing corpse of an allegedly murdered Chinese student on a Hamilton unit balcony told a court she was drawn to the tool chest because of “prayer bags” on its locks.

Detective Sgt Tammy Storer gave evidence during the second day of the trial of Yang Zhao, who has pleaded not guilty to the alleged murder of his flatmate Qiong Yan, 29, in September 2020.

On July 19 2021, with the missing person investigation underway, Det Storer spoke to Zhao, who was in Sydney by that stage, before attending his unit at the “Newport” apartment complex on Parkside Circuit Hamilton.

She said the locks at the unit had been changed necessitating the engagement of a locksmith who gave police access.

Yang Zhao pictured entering the Brisbane watch-house in 2021.

“I was looking around and on the balcony I saw a black toolbox in the corner. It drew my attention because, at the time, I thought there were little incense bags on the locks – later turned out to be little prayer notes, prayer bags,” Det Storer told the jury.

The locksmith was asked to open the tool chest that the Crown says Zhao bought from Bunnings a day after killing Ms Yan and placed her body in there.

“(I) opened the lid to the box and immediately smelt a very strong smell of what I know to be a dead body,” Det Storer said.

“I looked in the box and I’ve seen a foot that looked like a human foot.”

Det Storer said she immediately caused a message to be sent to NSW Police, who were at that very time interviewing Zhao at his Sydney unit complex, about the find.

Kurt Zambesi, a NSW detective at the time, said he had his partner place Zhao under arrest at the unit complex.

The crime scene outside the apartment on Parkside Circuit in Hamilton. Picture: Tara Croser.

Just prior to the arrest Mr Zambesi believed Zhao – who the Crown allege had been posing as Ms Yan on the Chinese message app WeChat in communications with both police and the deceased’s Shanghai based mother – had simply been helping to hide Ms Yan because she didn’t want to speak to police.

On the car ride to a Sydney police station and under arrest Zhao allegedly asked police how “convincing” had he been, according to the prosecutor who read out the contents of a conversation between them.

“Was I good? Did you know?” Zhao apparently asked police.

“You were pretty good. We thought you were hiding something, but thought you were

protecting her because she didn’t want to speak to police,” the officer responded.

The officer – Det Sgt Michael Bugg from NSW Police – told Zhao he could tell them his side of the story if he wanted.

“There is no story. I don’t regret it,” Zhao allegedly responded.

“Accident doesn’t matter, I killed someone.”

Police outside the apartment where the body was found. Picture: Brad Fleet

The court previously heard Zhao allegedly claimed there was a suicide pact between the two who had also lived together in Sydney before moving to Brisbane following a break-in at their residence down south.

When talking to Det Storer on the phone before his arrest Zhao said he believed the break-in of their residence in Sydney was committed by “gangsters” and it was related to Ms Yan’s migration business.

Zhao said Ms Yan told him $300,000 of hers had been taken during the break-in.

“I think they were coming for Qiong,” Zhao told Det Storer.

During the phone call with Det Storer, which was played to the court, he said Ms Yan had told him she was going to seek “revenge” for the break-in, which had occurred in 2019.

The court heard Ms Yan’s mother had a Sydney-based friend of her daughter make a missing-person report to NSW Police in April 2021.

During the investigation police messaged Ms Yan’s WeChat account asking her to come to a cop shop and received a reply which the Crown allege was Zhao posing as her.

After her death the Crown alleges Zhao transferred Ms Yan’s $302,000 Porsche into his name and moved $200,000 out of her accounts, which he had access to.

When asked by Det Storer whether he had asked Ms Yan to get in touch with police after they began looking for her, the court heard Zhao said:

“I was begging her to contact police.”

Several hours later they found her body in the tool chest which the crown alleges was placed in there by Zhao after he attacked her in their Hamilton unit.

The court has heard Zhao told police she had convinced him to kill her.

Ms Yan’s mother broke down in the witness box after talk of her daughter’s cat Anchun.

The court was played a video sent to Rongmei Yan from her daughter’s WeChat account, the same day she was reporting missing to police, but several months after the Crown alleged she had been murdered.

Rongmei Yan, the mother of Qiong Yan, and Detective Sergeant Tammy Storey at the Supreme Court in Brisbane. Picture: Tertius Pickard

The short video was of a woman’s hand petting a cat that looked like Anchun, the court heard.

“I am fine, I have Anchun keeping me company,” a message accompanying the video said.

The Crown allege it was Zhao who sent the message.

Mrs Yan, who has travelled from China to give evidence at the trial of the alleged murder of her only child, began crying as the day’s proceedings were adjourned.

Earlier she was asked how regularly she communicated with her daughter while she was in Australia.

“Basically we had this arrangement every day she would tell me she was safe,” Mrs Yan said through an interpreter

Before the death of her daughter, who came to Australia in 2013, Mrs Yan said she visited her once in 2017 for several months.

“She graduated I wanted to come here to see the life she was having here,” she said.

After Ms Yan’s alleged murder in September 2020 the Crown accuse Zhao of using her WeChat account to ask for large sums of money from her mother.

A document was shown to the court highlighting transactions made by Mrs Yan

totalling more than 2.5 million Chinese Yuan.

The trial before Justice Martin Burns continues Wednesday.