Man accused of murdering flatmate at Hamilton charged with fraud

A man accused of murdering his flatmate and leaving her in a box on a balcony in an upscale part of Brisbane has been charged with fraud.

The body of Qiong Yan was found in a metal box on the balcony of a Hamilton unit. Picture Police Media

A man accused of murdering his flatmate and leaving her in a box on a balcony in an upscale part of Brisbane has been charged with fraud ahead of a trial that is scheduled to go ahead despite a last-minute change in lawyers.

According to police, the body of Qiong Yan, 30, was found in an “esky size” metal box on the balcony of an apartment at Hamilton in July 2021.

Police allege she was killed by her flatmate Yang Zhao.

He is facing charges of murder and misconduct of a corpse on or about September 5 and 6, respectively, 2020, according to court records.

Zhao is also charged with fraud – dishonestly cause a detriment to the value of at least $100,000 between October 18, 2020, and March 30 the following year.

The case was briefly mentioned in Brisbane’s Supreme Court on Thursday.

The court heard law firm Cridland and Hau was taking over Zhao’s defence.

The firm’s partner Daniel Hau said he did not anticipate any difficulty in starting the trial in late April.

“Obviously we haven’t seen the brief yet … if there’s any issues arising I’ll bring the matter on for mention urgently,” he said.

The three-week trial is scheduled to start on April 28.

Zhao was remanded in custody.

Originally published as Man accused of murdering flatmate at Hamilton charged with fraud