Alexander Wong alleged bludgeoned China Bar owner Vincent Chi

The “brutal” beating of a popular restaurateur, allegedly at the hands of a jilted husband, had “all the hallmarks of a crime of passion”, a court has heard.

Popular China Bar owner Vincent Chi was found dead in the entrance of his Templestowe Lower home. .

A jilted husband who suspected his wife of cheating with her dumpling bar boss laid in wait inside his home before bludgeoning him to death with a plasterer’s mallet, a court had heard.

China Bar owner Yoke Onn ‘Vincent’ Chi, 56, was found dead in the entrance of his Templestowe Lower home with almost every bone in his face broken, having been “brutally and savagely beaten”, on January 31, 2020.

Initially, police suspected a burglary gone wrong, with Mr Chi’s wallet, iPad and bag with cash from his popular Northland restaurant missing when he was found dead by his son just after 11pm.

But that changed about seven hours later, when police knocked on the door of Alexander Wong at 6.22am, who Mr Chi’s son had suggested as a person of interest.

The Supreme Court heard when the Heidelberg West man opened his door, he told three police officers: “He f***ed my wife in my own home and I really hate him, but what can I do, who would do that.”

Alexander Wong allegedly laid in wait before Mr Chi’s death. Picture: Josie Hayden

On the first day of the murder trial on Tuesday - exactly three years after Mr Chi’s death - Crown Prosecutor Raymond Gibson said the restaurant owner and the accused killer’s wife Penny Chung, who worked for him as a cook and waitress, had a “close relationship”.

She called her boss “daddy” and “godfather” and they signed off text messages with “love you”.

People, including Mr Wong, suspected they were having an affair but they both denied it, Mr Gibson said.

The court heard Mr Wong told a friend he’d “brought the wolf into his house” by introducing the duo, and, “If I get upset and furious I’ll teach him a good lesson”.

But Mr Wong himself was having an affair - he’d been dating a woman called ‘Cherry’ for five months, who he dubbed ‘wifey’.

Ms Chung had moved out in September 2019 upon learning of the affair, and moved in briefly with Mr Chi before flying home to Malaysia 12 days before his murder.

But Mr Wong, who kept her phone, became angered that “the bastard” continued to text her, the court heard.

Three days before he died, Ms Chung texted Mr Chi: “Even you say you can’t live without me. He won’t let me go, for real.”

He replied: “You have the right to decide your own fate and future.”

On the night of the slaying, the prosecutor said Mr Wong was drinking apple ciders and texting Cherry until 8.51pm before he suddenly stopped responding to her messages.

The Crown says this is when the alleged killer drove 10 minutes to Templestowe Lower and broke into Mr Chi’s house.

“At 9pm there’s a spike in the electricity at Vincent’s house consistent with someone turning the lights on,” Mr Gibson said.

He then “remained in the house awaiting Vincent’s return from work”, at about 9.30pm.

The murder had “all the hallmarks of a crime of passion”, a court has heard. Picture: Josie Hayden

Mr Gibson outlined the evidence in the Crown’s “circumstantial case”, including what he said could be Mr Wong’s DNA inside the victim’s jeans pocket, where he kept his wallet.

Mr Wong, a plasterer, had access to rubber mallets like the one prosecutors say was used in the murder.

A discarded black glove - the same brand bought at Costco by Mr Wong a day after his wife left for Malaysia - was found next to his car with blood on it at 100 billion times the likelihood of being Mr Chi’s.

There was a green towel with blood on it inside his house, and bloody footprints matched slip-resistant work clogs he’d bought for his wife months earlier.

But Mr Wong claimed the towel was Ms Chung’s and that she’d left her shoes at China Bar.

He told police he believed his wife was tracking his phone, and she and Mr Chi had gone to his house to “try and catch him with another woman”.

In a rare move, the jury will be shown images of Mr Chi’s horrific injuries from a dozen blows to the face and head.

“Ideally a jury should be spared that,” Mr Gibson said.

But this was a murder that had “all the hallmarks of a crime of passion”, and the injuries were important to showing a killer’s murderous intent, he said.

Defence lawyer James McQuillan will respond with his opening remarks on Wednesday morning.

The trial is expected to run for five weeks.