Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao was lured to a house she was selling by a Chinese national who claimed he had a buyer, before she was stabbed, put in the boot of a car, and dumped in a shallow grave in the countryside, a court heard today.

Tingjun Cao, 53, denies killing 44-year-old Bao on July 19 last year and is standing trial in the High Court at Christchurch.

Cao, who came to New Zealand months before the alleged killing, is being assisted by Chinese Mandarin language translators.

“I plead not guilty,” he said through his interpreter at the start of the trial, which could take six weeks.

After a jury of six men and six women was empanelled this morning, the Crown outlined their case against Cao.

Yanfei Bao. Photo / Supplied

Mum-of-one Bao was last seen alive on July 19 last year, when she arrived at a house for sale on Trevor St in the suburb of Hornby, set to show a potential buyer through it.

A week later, her disappearance was upgraded to a homicide investigation.

Cao was later charged with murder, although it took police more than a year to find Bao’s remains, in an area of private farmland in the Greenpark area south of Christchurch.

Prosecutor Cameron Stuart outlined the Crown’s case against Cao this afternoon.

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Stuart said while the Crown doesn’t have to prove a motive, a graphic photograph allegedly of Bao bloodied and naked from the waist down which was said to have been found on Cao’s phone, may suggest there was a “sexual element” behind Cao’s actions which he denies.

The trial of Tingjun Cao, who denies murdering Yanfei Bao, has started at the High Court in Christchurch today. Photo / Pool / Iain McGregor

Cao had moved to New Zealand from China in March last year, the court heard, leaving behind a wife and two sons.

When he arrived in Christchurch, he lived with his brother-and-law and later helped them buy a new house - where Bao was the agent for Harcourts which she joined earlier last year - with a $10,000 cash deposit.

She stayed in touch with Cao – who couldn’t read, write, or speak English - through a Chinese messaging app.

He had struggled for work and she was helping him find a new job after an initial opportunity didn’t work out.

On the morning of July 19 last year, he sent her a message asking if she had any houses on the market as a friend in China wanted to buy a house, the Crown alleges.

She replied that she had several up for sale in various parts of the city and asked what the buyer’s needs were, the court heard.

Cao allegedly replied that his friend wanted a three-bedroom house up to $650,000 in a good location.

They arranged to meet at a house on Trevor St in Hornby, the court heard.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) was played to the jury which the Crown says showed the pair each turning up at the house.

Bao arrived before him, took photos and videos of the house, and phoned a friend in China to ask about transferring money from China to New Zealand as she had a client interested in buying a house.

The Crown case is that Cao attacked her inside the house by stabbing her, before dragging her through the house and putting her inside the boot of his car.

It’s alleged that he drove her across the city, bought a spade, and then dumped her in a shallow grave on a farm south of the city.

Cao was later arrested at Christchurch International Airport with a passport and one-way ticket to Shanghai, the Crown says.

The trial, before Justice Lisa Preston, which is expected to hear from more than 70 Crown witnesses, continues.

Kurt Bayer is NZ Herald South Island Head of News based in Christchurch. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2011.