By RNZ

• The Crown has described the case against Tingjun Cao for murdering Yanfei Bao as an “absolute slam dunk”.
• Prosecutor Pip Currie highlighted strong evidence, including DNA, phone data and a palm print on Bao’s cellphone.
• Cao’s blood and Bao’s blood were found in multiple locations, including Cao’s car and a Trevor St address.

The case against the man accused of murdering Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao is an absolute slam dunk, the Crown has told the jury.

On Tuesday morning, prosecutor Pip Currie gave her closing argument in the case against Tingjun Cao.

The trial has been held in the High Court at Christchurch for the past six weeks.

Yanfei Bao went missing from Hornby in July last year. Her body was found in a shallow grave on a Greenpark farm just over a year later.

The Crown case is that Cao lured Bao to a Trevor St home under the pretence of wanting to view the property and possibly buy it.

Once there, Cao attacked Bao, before transporting her in the boot of his car to MacArtneys Rd, where he killed her, the Crown says.

He then bought a spade from a hardware store in New Brighton before transporting Bao’s body to a farm in the Greenpark area, where Cao buried her in a shallow grave along a treeline, the Crown said.

In the days after her disappearance, Cao bought a one-way ticket to Shanghai and was arrested on his way to flee the country.

Currie said the evidence against Cao was strong.

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“The Crown makes no bones about it now and says quite strongly and robustly that this case is an absolute slam dunk,” she said.

“I submit to you here that the evidence is both compelling and overwhelming, and it points in only one direction – without a doubt Mr Cao was the person who is responsible for the murder of Yanfei Bao.”

Currie pointed to data placing them together at the time of Bao’s disappearance and death, and ultimately where her body was found.

There was also the photo of Bao naked from the waist down and with blood on her body, which was recovered from Cao’s phone, Currie said.

But even with phone and location data, the case against Cao was strong.

“What about the DNA evidence?” Currie asked.

“The DNA alone could convict him, even if you didn’t have the CCTV or phone data, any of that technical evidence.”

Cao’s blood was found in the Trevor St address, as was Bao’s.

Bao’s blood was extensively present through the boot of Cao’s car, Currie said.

Cao’s palm print was also found on Bao’s discarded cellphone.

“It’s kind of gold isn’t it?” Currie said.

“The only way that it has got there is he has been holding her phone, and not just holding it but breaking it. So his palm print has ended up on the battery and the only reason he has broken it is to destroy it in an attempt to get rid of evidence that would incriminate him.”

Cao, who sacked his lawyers early in the trial and had been carrying out his own defence, is expected to make his closing argument later on Tuesday.