The man accused of murdering Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao was seen washing his car on the side of a rural road on the day she disappeared.
Chinese national Tingjun Cao, 53, is on trial at the High Court at Christchurch for killing Bao on Wednesday 19 July last year.
Cao’s six-hour police interview — recorded after his arrest at Christchurch Airport on Saturday, July 22 — was played to the court over two days.
Cao was interviewed by Detective Sergeant Caroline Johnson, with translation assistance by Detective Constable Wei (David) Zhu.
When Johnson told Cao he had been seen washing his car on the side of Hudsons Road on the day Bao went missing, he told her it was dirty from water and mud.
Asked why he chose to wash his car on the side of the road, rather than at home, Cao replied: “I found the water on the, on the roadside,” adding: “The car was dirty and had some water nearby”.
Johnson questioned why he decided to wash the car with muddy water.
Cao said despite him finding the water on the side of the road: “That’s not dirty water”.
The court heard Cao used gloves to clean the car, and left a dirty towel and milk carton behind.
Johnson also spoke to Cao about cellphone records obtained by police that showed Bao and Cao’s cellphones were together from 11.38am to 6.30pm on the day she vanished.
The phones went through Hornby, Halswell and the Southern Motorway together. Bao’s phone travelled through New Brighton, Moncks Bay and South Shore, while Cao’s phone was turned off as it moved towards the sea.
Cao denied turning her phone off, or having her phone, and asked Johnson if someone could have been following him with her cell phone.
Both phones were recorded as being in Lincoln, Leeston and Tai Tapu — near where Cao was seen washing his car.
Asked about scratches and redness on his hands and elbow, Cao told police he had been polishing concrete in China before arriving in New Zealand, which caused a “skin irritation, or skin infection”.
Earlier in the police interview, Cao told police that he had been driving around looking for a job on the day Bao went missing, and had decided to leave the country because he had given up the job hunt.
When asked what he knew about the missing woman, Cao again said the “woman’s image looks looks beautiful”, but he did not really know her, and did not have a good eyesight.
rnz.co.nz
