A 30-year-old man, Yang Zhao, is currently on trial for the murder of his flatmate, Qiong Yan, 29, in Queensland’s Supreme Court. Zhao, who has admitted to telling “many lies,” stated that his earlier confessions regarding her death were also dishonest. He is accused of striking Yan with a metal bottle and then strangling her, as stated by Crown Prosecutor Chris Cook.
During his testimony, Zhao claimed that detailed descriptions of the alleged murder he provided to police were influenced by intoxicated thoughts and elements from movies and TV shows. When pressed by Cook if the jury should believe he murdered Qiong Yan, Zhao replied negatively through a Mandarin interpreter. Cook pointed out that Zhao’s narrative contradicted the admissions he made in three police statements recorded after his arrest in July 2021.
Zhao pleaded not guilty to murdering Yan in September 2020 at their shared apartment in inner Brisbane, but he did plead guilty to interfering with her corpse. He acknowledged placing her body in a toolbox and leaving it on the apartment balcony for nearly ten months. During his testimony, Zhao claimed Yan died accidentally after they inhaled nitrous oxide, or “nangs,” together for several hours. He alleged that she passed out and ceased breathing while he slept nearby.
Both Zhao and Yan, who was the director of a migration agency, were Chinese nationals residing in Australia. Zhao expressed that he concealed her body out of fear of being charged with drug-related offences, stating he did not initially realise that nitrous oxide was illegal. He admitted to impersonating Yan via text messages to her mother, Rongmei Yan, who was in China, and fraudulently soliciting $463,000 in bank transfers by pretending to be his flatmate.
Zhao also conceded to drinking alcohol and using nitrous oxide while being close to where Yan’s body was hidden. He revealed that his false confessions stemmed from a fear of facing the death penalty, which he felt was deserved due to his actions. His final moments on the stand were spent answering repetitive cross-examination questions regarding his intent and actions that night.
Justice Martin Burns is set to begin delivering the jury instructions based on the evidence presented in the trial when proceedings resume on Monday.