A Chinese national caught trying to flee the country has today been found guilty of murdering Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao.

After a seven-week trial at the High Court in Christchurch, a jury took just 97 minutes to find that Tingjun Cao, 53, did indeed kill 44-year-old Bao on July 19 last year.

The Crown case was that Cao, who had moved to New Zealand five months earlier spoke no English and had been helped by Bao to try and find a job, lured her to a house in the suburb of Hornby and stabbed her multiple times.

Cao then dragged her into the boot of his car before dumping her in a shallow grave on a farm outside the city.

It would take police more than a year to find her body after a breakthrough cracking into phone data.

Cao had denied having anything to do with Bao’s death. He sacked his lawyers early in the high-profile trial and conducted his own defence, with the assistance of Chinese Mandarin language translators.

Tingjun Cao at the High Court in Christchurch trial. Photo / George Heard

He made various claims about fabricated or false evidence against him and would end up claiming witnesses had mistaken him on the morning Bao disappeared for a “Mr Tang” who he said borrowed his car. No Mr Tang was ever identified.

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

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

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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.

Police finally found Yanfei Bao's body on a piece of farmland outside of Christchurch. Photo / Joe Allison

The Crown told the jury that while they did not have to prove motive, a graphic photograph allegedly of Bao bloodied and naked from the waist down, was found on Cao’s phone and may have suggested a “sexual element” behind Cao’s actions.

Crown prosecutor Pip Currie told the jury in her closing address to the jury that the weight of compelling evidence against Cao meant it was an “absolute slam dunk” of a case.

Cao 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-in-law and later helped them buy a new house with a $10,000 cash deposit. Bao was the agent for Harcourts, which she had joined earlier last year.

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 did not work out.

Yanfei Bao. Photo / Supplied

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 property, the Crown alleged.

She replied she had several for sale around the city and asked what the buyer’s needs were, the court heard.

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

They arranged to meet at the Trevor St property, 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 was 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 was alleged 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 a one-way ticket to Shanghai.

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

Katie Oliver is a Christchurch-based Multimedia Journalist and breaking news reporter.