Bitter ex-business partner accused of killing Zhong
The man accused of murdering Auckland businesswoman Elizabeth Zhong — ambushing her in her bedroom in 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.
Fang Sun, 48, had initially been so close with Zhong after meeting her in 2013 that he had lived with her family after moving to New Zealand from China. But in the years that followed, Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes said yesterday during opening statements, their businesses went into receivership and Sun accused Zhong of mishandling money.
Their partnership devolved into a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in the High Court at Auckland, the same place where Sun stood, answering “not guilty” when asked how he wished to plead.
“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 to follow her for months.
Zhong’s body was discovered by police in the boot of her black Land Rover on a Saturday evening in November 2020. The vehicle was parked on a street in Sunnyhills, Auckland. She had last been seen alive the previous afternoon and had been reported missing that Saturday morning after a friend stopped by and noticed blood in her bedroom.
The 55-year-old, whose formal name was Ying Zhong, had moved to New Zealand from China in 1997.
She had set up and run a business school and owned multiple businesses, including a film company, two wineries and Sunbow Ltd, which Sun and his family had invested in.
But she began losing the companies and properties as they were sold to repay debts.
As the partnership soured, Sun moved out of the house he shared with Zhong in 2019 and Zhong changed the locks, prosecutors said. But they believe he returned in the early hours of November 28, 2020.
“He used a knife to stab her over 20 times, targeting her head, her neck and her back,” Kayes said.
Sun is then alleged to have used a suitcase to take her body to the garage, placing her in the boot of her Land Rover before driving the vehicle to his home for about 15 minutes, prosecutors said, citing CCTV footage and data from a tracking device the private investigator had hidden underneath Zhong’s vehicle.
The trial is expected to last six weeks.