Yang Zhao: ‘Champagne taste, white wine budget’, jury hears motive in flatmate murder trial

A man standing trial for killing his flatmate and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her mother had “champagne taste on a white wine budget”, a jury has heard.

Yang Zhao, 30, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Qiong Yan, 29, in September 2020 at their inner-Brisbane apartment.

He has pleaded guilty to interfering with Ms Yan’s corpse, which was found concealed by police in a large toolbox on their unit’s balcony about 10 months after her alleged murder.

Zhao is accused of pretending to be Ms Yan for months and requesting bank transfers to steal $463,000 from her mother after the alleged murder.

Her mother, Rongmei Yan, has been attending the trial after she travelled from Shanghai to Brisbane.

Prosecutor Chris Cook on Monday said Zhao loved the “high life” and fast cars but had trading and gambling debts and was in rental arrears.

“So why kill your flatmate? The Crown relies on motive - financial motive. He wanted her money, wanted her mother’s money,” Mr Cook told the Supreme Court jury during his closing argument.

“He said he was obsessed with money to a certain extent, and he also said he would do anything to get money.

“This is a man with champagne taste on a white wine budget.”

Zhao allegedly murdered Ms Yan by striking her on the head with a metal bottle and strangling her, Mr Cook earlier told the jury.

Zhao spent three days giving evidence, claiming Ms Yan died accidentally after they had both spent up to four hours in the apartment inhaling nitrous oxide, which he referred to as “nangs” or “laughing gas”.

Zhao, a Chinese national living in Australia on a student visa, testified that Ms Yan passed out on the floor and stopped breathing while he was asleep on a nearby couch.

He claimed he hid her body because he was afraid of being charged with supplying drugs.

Zhao said he then unlocked Ms Yan’s phone and impersonated her for months via text messages to her mother, who was in China.

Ms Yan was also a Chinese national and was the director of a migration agency.

Zhao admitted later to drinking alcohol, inhaling “nangs” and having sex in the apartment metres from where Ms Yan’s body was located on the balcony.

The jury heard Zhao claim his detailed accounts of killing Ms Yan, given to police after his arrest in July 2021, were based on thoughts he had while intoxicated, which he combined with “movies and TV dramas”.

Zhao said he lied to police when he told them he killed Ms Yan because he “wanted the death penalty”, which he felt he deserved for hiding her body and stealing her family’s money.

Defence barrister Andrew Hoare KC on Monday said Zhou’s description of causing Ms Yan’s death was inconsistent with evidence provided by a forensic pathologist.

“At its essence, the tale told by Mr Zhao as to how Ms Yan was killed in the interviews is impossible to reconcile with the forensic pathologist,” he said.

“Possibilities are insufficient to sustain the crown burden of proof.”

Justice Martin Burns will sum up the evidence before the jury goes out.