Victim ‘desperate’ before her death
Businesswoman Elizabeth Zhong told her daughter how the man accused of killing her threatened her multiple times, and she was desperate in the month leading up to her death, a court has heard.
The court was also told she had also racked up losses of more than $200,000 by playing the slots at an Auckland casino.
Elizabeth (Ying) Zhong’s body was found in the boot of her car in Sunnyhills on November 28, 2020, after she was reportedmissing by her friend Wendy Wu.
Zhong’s former business partner Fang Sun is on trial for murder in the High Court at Auckland. The Crown’s case is that he entered her home with a knife and stabbed her multiple times.
But the defence says Sun is not a killer and someone else is responsible for the businesswoman’s death.
On Monday, Zhong’s daughter, who has name suppression, told the jury hearing Sun’s trial at the High Court at Auckland, how her mother and Sun had a good and trusting business relationship before it broke down.
Sun and Zhong became business partners in 2014 and together invested about $28 million in several Kiwi businesses.
The pair then fell out and Sun claimed Zhong owed him millions of dollars.
‘‘I think she mentioned on
three occasions Fang threatened to kill her,’’ Zhong’s daughter said.
Her mother didn’t go into details as she was a ‘‘very strong and private person’’, the court heard.
Zhong opened up slightly more to her daughter about the dispute after her suicide attempt in October 2020.
‘‘She was becoming more desperate and upset.’’
On the morning of November 28, 2020, Zhong’s daughter tried to call her multiple times. She then found out from Wendy Wu her mother was not at home.
Zhong’s daughter tried to log in to her mother’s Apple ID to use the Find My iphone application in an attempt to track it. The businesswoman’s phone was never found.
‘‘With her last attempted suicide, we were worried she’d done something silly again,’’ Zhong’s daughter said.
Sun’s lawyer Sam Wimsett asked Zhong’s daughter about her involvement with the civil proceedings. She became involved after Zhong’s attempted suicide, to alleviate the pressure while she was in respite care, the court heard.
Zhong’s daughter also sent a letter to the judge hearing the case.
‘‘It’s really hard when someone who is your support and the strongest person you know, when they attempt to take their own life. You try and do everything you can to protect them. She was my rock,’’ Zhong’s daughter tearfully told the court.
Zhong’s daughter also tried to get her mother’s ex-boyfriend to pay back money as the businesswoman was on the brink of bankrupcy.
Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes detailed several of Sun and Zhong’s claims against each other in the civil court proceeding at the High Court at Auckland, which was ongoing at the time of the businesswoman’s death.
Sun claimed Zhong had misappropriated their company funds for personal use, including transferring hundreds of thousands to Wendy Wu, Kai Gui Zheng and her daughter. He also claimed $4.5 million had been unlawfully transferred into her personal accounts.
Meanwhile, Zhong denied those claims, stating Sun failed to pay $6m under a loan agreement and $9m under a share transfer agreement.
The court also heard how Zhong visited Skycity casino 381 times between January 2017 and her death and her account had a loss of $238,538.
Wendy Wu previously told the court Zhong was a member at Skycity and they would go and play the slot machines together if they had time.
‘‘She went to the casino because she was under stress and set her limit to $500.’’
On December 14, 2020, Sun filed a notice to the High Court stating Zhong owed him at least $9m. Zhong was adjudicated bankrupt by the High Court the next day.
In 2021, Sun submitted a claim for $10m to be paid to him and trusts associated to him out of Zhong’s assets.
The trial before Justice Neil Campbell and a jury continues.