Mum was allegedly tricked into sending money to man charged with daughter’s murder
A court has heard how the mother of a woman, whose dead body was left on a Brisbane apartment verandah for months, was allegedly tricked into sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to her alleged killer.
Warning: This story contains content that readers may find distressing.
Qiong Yan was allegedly murdered in September 2020 and her body was stored inside a large toolbox at a Hamilton apartment, until it was found by police in July 2021.
Qiong Yan’s body was found inside a toolbox on the verandah of a Brisbane apartment. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)
Her former flatmate Yang Zhao has pleaded guilty to interfering with a human body, but not guilty to her murder.
The now 30-year-old Chinese national is facing a Supreme Court trial in Brisbane this week.
Ms Yan’s mother, 67-year-old Rongmei Yan, told the court she and her daughter had kept in constant contact through social media messaging app WeChat.
“We had this arrangement, every day she would tell me that she was safe,” the mother said through a translator.
Crown prosecutor Chris Cook alleged Mr Zhao posed as Ms Yan after her death and kept up contact with her mother for financial gain.
Rongmei Yan showed the court multiple transactions, totalling hundreds of thousands of Chinese yen, that she had sent to a bank account she shared with her daughter.
Rongmei Yan told the court that she and her daughter had agreed to keep in contact. (ABC News)
The first request for money came just days after Ms Yan was allegedly killed, but at the time her mother believed the money was to help her daughter purchase a house, the court heard.
Rongmei Yan told the court the last video call she shared with her daughter was in the week leading up to the alleged murder, and said she wasn’t able to reach her daughter via video after that call.
“I tried to call her but she always said the signal wasn’t good. She kept saying that and wouldn’t take my call,”
Rongmei Yan said.
More than 2,000 messages were allegedly exchanged between WeChat accounts belonging to the mother and daughter over the following 10 months, the court heard.
The court was shown a blurry video of a woman’s hand petting a cat, which was sent from Ms Yan’s account as proof she was still alive in April 2021.
In the video, a woman’s voice can be heard saying “I am fine. I have [my cat] keeping my company”.
Rongmei Yan became emotional at this point, and the court was adjourned for the day.
The Newport building in Hamilton, in Brisbane’s north, where the woman’s body was found. (ABC News: Michael Rennie)
Detective gives evidence
Qiong Yan was discovered by detectives while searching Mr Zhao’s Brisbane apartment as part of an investigation into her disappearance.
Earlier in the trial on Tuesday, the Queensland Police Service officer who found the 29-year-old’s body told the court the first thing she noticed were “prayer bags” on the outside of the toolbox.
Detective Acting Sergeant Tammy Storey said she found Ms Yan within minutes of entering the apartment.
“We’ve unlocked the lid to the box and immediately smelled the very strong smell of what I know to be a dead body,” the detective said.
“I’ve looked in and seen a foot, what looked like a human foot.“
At that point, the apartment was declared a crime scene and Mr Zhao was arrested in Sydney.
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The court also heard a 70-minute phone call between Detective Sergeant Storey and Mr Zhao in July 2021, days before his arrest.
In the call Mr Zhao suggested Ms Yan had a “side business”, alleging their Sydney apartment had been broken into because someone was “after” her.
“I think she’s hiding from someone,” Mr Zhao said at the time, when questioned about her whereabouts.
Social media messages
Ms Yan was reported missing after former flatmate and friend Lu Xu received “strange” messages from her WeChat account.
Ms Xu told the court she hadn’t even known Ms Yan moved to Brisbane, but became suspicious after not hearing from her on her birthday, Christmas or Chinese New Year.
A message from Ms Yan’s WeChat account told Ms Xu that she was “fine” but was “on a farm” and had no internet access.
By April 2021, Ms Xu had determined she would file a missing person’s report and sent a text message to Ms Yan’s mobile number.
“If you don’t reply to me in two hours, I will call the police,”
the message said.
Ms Xu told the court she received a reply saying Ms Yan had “already contacted her mother” and asking “who are you”.
She never heard from the number again.
The prosecution alleged Mr Zhao used messaging app WeChat to contact the dead woman’s mother. (Reuters: Dado Ruvic)
Earlier, the court heard Mr Zhao had gained access to Ms Yan’s phone and bank account, transferring himself money to fund what prosecutors described as “the high life” — alleging he regularly gambled at poker and on the stock market.
On Monday, the prosecution said that Ms Yan had come into “a significant settlement” following the sale of her late father’s Shanghai estate in August 2020.
Mr Cook alleged Mr Zhao convinced the deceased woman’s mother to send more than $400,000 in separate transactions.
The trial will resume on Wednesday where the mother will continue to give evidence.
