Mother in court as killer details how he hit and choked her daughter

A mother has heard an accused murderer admit killing her daughter, detailing how he hit and choked the young woman before her body was found in a metal box.

Rongmei Yan sat silently in court through a recorded police interview in which international student Yang Zhao told officers he struck her daughter, Qiong, on the head with a gas canister before choking her.

Almost 10 months after her alleged murder, Ms Yan’s corpse was found in a large tool box on the balcony of the Brisbane apartment she shared with Zhao.

Yang Zhao was arrested in Mascot, NSW. Credit: Nine News

“I killed her ... she asked me to do it as fast and quick as I can,” Zhao said in the video played to a Supreme Court jury.

“I smashed her head. I wasn’t strong enough.

“She struggled. She asked me to choke her.”

The jury was shown videos of Zhao being arrested on July 19, 2021, and then interviewed by NSW Police in Sydney.

“Are you going to show this to her parents?” the accused killer asked when detectives said the interview was being recorded.

Ms Yan’s mother sat in court as the jury watched the video, having earlier given her own evidence on Wednesday.

A man is on trial for the Brisbane murder of Chinese national Qiong Yan.Credit: Police Media

She had flown to Brisbane from her home in China for the trial.

Zhao said in the interview that he and Ms Yan had been inhaling nitrous oxide from a metal cream-whipping canister, the same one he allegedly used to hit her.

He claimed they both wanted to die due to having “bad lives” and losing money on investments, but he was too afraid to take his own life after killing Ms Yan.

Zhao, now 30, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of the 29-year-old migration agency director in September 2020 at their apartment in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Hamilton.

He has instead pleaded guilty to interfering with her corpse.

Crown prosecutor Chris Cook previously told the jury Zhao allegedly sent more than 2000 text messages to Ms Yan’s friends and mother, enabling him to steal more than $400,000 of her family’s money after the killing.

Cook earlier pointed to Zhao and asked Ms Yan’s mother if she gave him permission to take her money.

“No,” she said.

The last time Ms Yan contacted her mother via a video call was on September 20, 2020. After that, she received only text messages, the jury heard.

On April 12, 2021, Ms Yan’s mother was sent a brief video, with a female hand holding her daughter’s cat, Anchun, and a text message stating: “I am fine. I have Anchun taking care of me.”

Ms Yan had allegedly been dead for seven months at that point.

Mrs Yan wept and wiped her eyes after watching the cat video in court on Tuesday.

During his police interview, Zhao said he “panicked” before recording the video.

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AAP