‘Anchun keeping me company’, ‘Sorry to trouble you’: Man’s alleged disturbing texts in ‘body box’ murder trial
The texts allegedly sent by a man pretending to be the woman he murdered before her decomposing body was found inside a large box on an apartment balcony have been detailed in court.
In April 2021, Rongmei Yan received a mysterious message from her daughter, Qiong.
It was a short video clip – no longer than a few seconds – of what appeared to be her daughter’s pet cat Anchun being stroked by a woman’s hand.
There was no face accompanying the clip or message of safety, save for the accompanying text which read: “I am fine, I have Anchun keeping me company.”
On the Crown’s allegation, this innocuous message hides a darker truth - that it was not Qiong Yan at all sending this message, and something afoul had happened to the Chinese national during her stay in Australia.
In reality, Qiong was already dead when the message was sent.
Her flatmate, Yang Zhao, is alleged to have murdered her some time in September 2020 and stuffed her body into a large toolbox, which he kept locked on the balcony of an apartment in Hamilton, in Brisbane’s northeast.
It would not be until July 2021 that police would eventually discover the grim fate Ms Yan met, upon Zhao’s arrest an entire state away.
The message – along with the thousands Zhao is alleged to have sent Ms Yan’s family, friends and associates – are now at the centre of a criminal trial that has gripped Brisbane Supreme Court for the past week.
Zhao has pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.
The Crown contends Zhao not only killed Ms Yan, but that he took her phone and used it to pose as his flatmate for some 10 months, keeping up a ruse that she was alive all along.
All the while, he allegedly had access to her apps and banking details, transferring thousands of dollars from her account into his own.
The deception is also alleged to have extended to Rongmei, who lives in Shanghai, China.
Upon receiving messages supposedly sent from her daughter’s account over the social media messaging app WeChat, Rongmei sent her daughter some $400,000.
Rongmei has flown in from China to give evidence at the murder trial - last week telling a jury she became more suspicious of her daughter’s messages after contact with Qiong became more “sporadic” and she continued asking her for more money.
In one exchange, she attempted to call Qiong, only for her daughter to respond that the signal was “not good”, the court was told.
“Over the next six or seven months, did she ask for large sums of money again?” Crown prosecutor Chris Cook asked.
“Yes,” Rongmei answered.
“When you were sending those messages after September, you didn’t know who was on the other end of the phone?” Mr Cook continued.
“No,” Rongmei answered.
In April 2021, Rongmei messaged her daughter on WeChat: “I only want to video call you”.
In response, a short video was sent from her daughter’s account - appearing to depict a female hand stroking a cat.
The accompanying message read: “I am fine. I have Anchun keeping me company”.
A missing person’s report was filed to NSW Police that same month.
Officers eventually made contact with Ms Yan’s WeChat account, urging her to come to a police station as soon as she could.
The message sent read: “Hi, this is Constable Huang from St George Police. Please tell us your current location. Police need to see you in person to check your welfare.”
“Essentially we explained we’re from the police and she’s not in trouble, we’re just trying to find her, and sight her as a missing person,” Senior Constable Kurt Zambesi, one of the officers who responded to the initial missing person’s report, told the court.
Instead, Zhao – allegedly still using Ms Yan’s phone – sent the following message to police:
“Hi, I’m sorry to waste your time and resources, I’m fine. My mother is looking for me because she thinks I spend too much of her money. It’s family problem, sorry again to trouble you.”
Constable Zambesi went on to tell the court he saw Ms Yan’s account posted a status update by April 20, written in Mandarin.
“The rough translation was: ‘My life is drunk… confusing, or I’m confused,’” he said.
Gross admission from accused killer
Zhao has maintained he did not kill Ms Yan, but pleaded guilty to putting her body into the box in a moment of panic, after realising she had died.
His story has been put under the microscope during cross-examination, after he chose to give evidence in the witness box.
The jury was told Zhao felt “immense shame” for maintaining the “lie” Ms Yan was still alive after he took her phone and responded to messages.
During his opening, defence barrister Andrew Hoare KC told the jury they would hear evidence from Zhao of how he and Ms Yan were consuming nitrous oxide canisters in order to relax at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zhao gave evidence he spent the night consuming nitrous oxide canisters with his flatmate, only to wake up and realise she had died and her body was “cold to touch”.
Mr Cook spent much of the cross-examination picking apart alleged “lies” Zhao told police, including how he allegedly told NSW Police he felt a “sense of relief” upon his arrest, that he had “no regrets”.
“You’re a liar … a coward … only interested in yourself (and) self-preservation,” Mr Cook continued, to which Mr Zhao answered “yes”.
“You profited from Qiong Yan’s death?” Mr Cook asked.
“Yes,” Mr Zhao said.
“You murdered her for money,” Mr Cook put to Mr Zhao.
More Coverage
He responded by saying: “I did not kill her”.
Zhao also admitted he had sex with another person metres from Ms Yan’s body and metres from “where she died”.
The trial continues, with Mr Cook and Mr Hoare due to give their closing arguments in the coming days.