Question over timing of key injury to Qiong Yan, who was found dead in box on Hamilton balcony

A man accused of murdering his flatmate, whose body was found months later in a toolbox on the balcony of a Brisbane unit, will give evidence next week.

Qiong Yan’s body was found in a toolbox on the balcony of a Hamilton unit in July 2021. Picture Police Media

A man accused of murdering his flatmate, whose body was found months later in a toolbox on the balcony of a Brisbane unit, will give evidence next week.

It comes as the Crown this afternoon closed its case.

When formally called on by the court, Yang Zhao’s barrister Andrew Hoare, KC, said his client would be giving evidence.

The 30-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murder, which the Crown says he committed in September 2020 before allegedly extracting funds from Yan and her Shanghai-based mother’s accounts over the following months.

The jury has heard from Zhao only in two recorded interviews with police where he says he killed his flatmate Qiong Yan, 29, by hitting her with a bottle and choking her for up to an hour.

Zhao, who once had the number plate FOG short for Fear of God, told police this was done at her request.

During the interview police showed Zhao a photo of him and another woman that was taken from footage of the couple having sex that was captured on an internal camera.

“That’s Annie and you on that couch,” Snr Sgt Damon Mulcahy asked.

“Yeah,” Zhao responded.

“And at this time Qiong’s still outside in the box?” Snr Sgt Mulcahy asked.

“Yeah,” Zhao said.

Yang Zhao has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Zhao said he had not told anyone about Ms Yan being in the “body box”.

Earlier on Friday, the court heard Yan’s autopsy revealed a fractured neck cartilage, but that it was impossible to say if it occurred before or after her death, and her body being kept in the box.

Forensic pathologist Dr Beng Beng Ong told a court it was not possible to say when Qiong Yan, 29, whose body was found in a toolbox in Hamilton in July 2021, incurred the fracture.

The Crown claim Ms Yan was fatally assaulted in their apartment with Zhao’s alleged attack possibly involving blows to the head and strangulation.

After his arrest Zhao told police in a recorded interview played to the jury that he smashed her over the head with a whipped cream bottle and choked her. He said this occurred at her request after they had been consuming nitrous oxide gas or nangs.

Mr Hoare has told the jury that what his client told police in those interviews was unreliable.

Dr Ong, who carried out the autopsy on Ms Yan up to 10 months after she died, gave evidence on day five of Zhao’s trial.

He said there were no skull fractures but a 1.5cm “defect” to the skin was observable on her forehead however Dr Ong could not say if it occurred before or after death given the advanced state of decomposition of the corpse.

Dr Ong agreed it was possibly consistent with blunt force trauma.

“So a weapon could have been used, something like this jug for instance here on the bar table and leave a defect life that,” Crown prosecutor Chris Cook asked.

“Yes it’s possible,” Dr Ong responded.

However Dr Ong agreed under cross-examination that there would be injuries beyond the defect if Ms Yan had been struck to the point her head was left misshapen, as described by Zhao in his police interview.

“What may cause someone’s head to be misshapen could be the immediate consequence of an injury causing a (skull) fracture, that’s correct?” Mr Hoare asked.

“Yes it’s possible,” Dr Ong said.

Ms Yan also had a fractured cricoid cartilage in her neck which Dr Ong agreed in his evidence in chief could have been caused by strangulation before she died.

Under cross-examination he agreed it was less common to have a fractured cricoid but an intact hyoid throat bone and thyroid cartilage, as Ms Yan did, in cases of strangulation.

“In circumstances where it’s alleged that a person is sitting on a person’s stomach … and they are then strangling them from above that person for a period of time of at least 30 minutes but an hour or perhaps more, you would, in fact, expect to see a fracture to the hyoid bone?” Mr Hoare asked.

“More often than not,” Dr Ong said.

The trial resumes Tuesday before Justice Martin Burns.