The man accused of murdering Auckland businesswoman Elizabeth Zhong – ambushing her in her bedroom in the middle of the night with a knife attack so brutal she was nearly decapitated before stuffing her body into a suitcase – was an embittered former business partner who blamed her for ruining his life, jurors were told today. 

Fang Sun, 48, had initially been so close with Zhong after meeting her in 2013 that he lived with her family after moving to New Zealand from China. 

But in the years that followed, Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes said today during opening statements, their businesses went into receivership and Sun accused Zhong of mishandling money. Their partnership devolved into a multi-million-dollar lawsuit in the High Court at Auckland, the same place where Sun stood today, answering "not guilty" when asked in front of the jury how he wished to plead. 

Auckland businesswoman Elizabeth Zhong, 55, was found dead in November 2020. Photo / Supplied 

"It would appear Fang Sun blamed Elizabeth Zhong for losing him or his family over $25 million," Kayes said, explaining that in addition to the lawsuit Sun repeatedly threatened Zhong and paid a private investigator up to $300 an hour to follow her for months. 

It was clear, Kayes said, that Sun believed Zhong "had become his nemesis". 

Zhong's body was discovered by police in the boot of her black, blood-smeared Land Rover on a Saturday evening in November 2020. The vehicle had been left parked on a residential street in Sunnyhills, an east Auckland neighbourhood where both she and Sun lived in nearby homes. 

She had last been seen alive the previous afternoon and had been reported missing that Saturday morning after a close friend stopped by her home and noticed blood in her bedroom. 

Fang Sun appears at Manukau District Court, charged with Elizabeth Zhong's murder, in February 2021. Photo / Alex Burton 

The 55-year-old, whose formal name is Ying Zhong, had moved to New Zealand from China in 1997. The former Beijing stock market worker set up and ran a business school upon arriving in New Zealand and started multiple businesses, including a film company and two wineries. 

But she began losing the companies and properties as, one-by-one, they went into receivership. 

Defence lawyer Sam Wimsett asked jurors during his opening statement to keep an open mind, predicting that they will hear about "other suspicious characters in this case". He suggested his client might have been framed. 

"Quite simply and quite strongly, it was not him," he said. "He is not a murderer, and he is not as stupid as to have done some of the things that were done here." 

At the conclusion of opening statements, Justice Neil Campbell dismissed jurors until Friday, when the first witnesses are expected to be called. That is partly so the judge's opening remarks and the Crown's opening statement can be interpreted into Mandarin for the defendant, he explained. 

The trial is expected to last six weeks. 

- by Craig Kapitan, NZ Herald