The partner of murdered Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao has spoken of his unfolding horror as he discovered she never came home from work that day, something that was “completely out of character”.

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

Lawyers for Cao, who came to New Zealand months before the alleged killing, told the opening day of the trial yesterday that the case was far from simple and that the evidence cannot sustain a guilty verdict in any way.

The Crown claims Cao had arranged to meet Bao at a house in Trevor St, Hornby that she was selling, claiming that he had a Chinese buyer after a $650,000 three-bedroom house.

But when she arrived, the Crown alleges that he attacked, stabbing her multiple times, dragging her body out of the house and into a car before dumping her in a shallow grave on a farm outside town. He was then caught at Christchurch International Airport trying to flee for Shanghai, the Crown told the court, while it took police 12 months to find Bao’s remains.

Tingjun Cao denies murdering Yanfei Bao and is standing trial at the High Court in Christchurch. Photo / George Heard

This afternoon, laboratory technician Gooch, who brought a small blue cuddly toy into the witness stand with him, spoke about how July 19 last year unfolded.

Gooch, who was in a relationship with Yanfei for five years, kissed her forehead as she was still sleeping before he left for work on his motorbike at about 7.45am.

They didn’t communicate during the day, with Gooch saying they were both busy professional people.

After work at around 4.30pm, Gooch texted Bao to say he was heading to a central city gym: ‘Hi honey, I’m just heading to Les Mills now, I will catch up with you when I get home later’.

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Bao had the car and would normally pick up her 9-year-old daughter from an after-school programme at around 5.30pm.

But after gym, and looking at his phone for the first time as he stopped for Chinese takeaways, he found several missed calls from the after-school programme staff to say Bao hadn’t been to pick up the child.

When he got home, he found a neighbour in his driveway.

“I obviously knew something was going on,” Gooch told the court.

Yanfei Bao. Photo / Supplied

The neighbour said after-school programme people had visited the house and found nobody home. The girl had been taken to Christchurch central police station and the neighbour offered to drive Gooch there.

At the police station, Gooch made sure the girl was okay and spoke to a police officer and said he had grave concerns for Bao, saying her disappearance was “completely out of character”.

He told the jury that Bao had “never ... never disappeared the whole time I knew her, ever.”

“Something like this would never happen, ever.”

As they drove home, he tried ringing her phones several times again and although they rang out, they were not answered. He said he was continually getting more and more concerned.

He also phoned friends but they hadn’t heard from her either.

By about 10.30pm that night, he decided not to wait until the morning to officially report her missing as he knew there was “something seriously wrong”.

The Trevor St house was later forensically examined. The Crown says blood found at the back entry and in the front bedroom matched with Bao’s DNA, while blood discovered in the boot and rear footwell of Cao’s car also matched Bao, the Crown told the jury.

CCTV from various cameras, along with phone polling and geolocation data, also traced the murder accused’s movements across the city after the attack, the Crown alleges.

Forensic pathologist Dr Leslie Anderson conducted an autopsy on Bao’s body which was in an “advanced state of decomposition” by the time she was found.

Anderson concluded she had died in a violent attack, with two distinct stab wounds around her abdomen.

The trial, before Justice Lisa Preston, 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.