Massey stabbing: accused of murder ‘kept ex-wife under surveillance’ – Crown

A man accused of fatally stabbing his ex-wife in a broad daylight attack in West Auckland had previously been monitoring her, a court heard.

Manchao Li, 65, denies killing Zhimin Yang and violating a protection order.

His trial began today in Auckland High Court before a jury chaired by Judge Pheroze Jagose.

Li is alleged to have repeatedly stabbed her ex-partner, also known as Jennifer, in Massey on July 29 last year.

Crown prosecutor Nick Webby said Yang reported seeing Li loitering near her home on the night of April 17, 2019, despite the existence of a protection order.

“I shouldn’t have known where he lived, but somehow I knew,” Webby said.

The prosecutor said she told the police: “I think that if Manchao knew where I lived he would kill me.”

The next day, police observed him in the area but claimed he did not know where she lived and that he walked every night on the doctor’s orders, Webby said.

He was given a warning, the court heard.

Webby said there were “strange happenings” in another direction at Massey in the months leading up to Yang’s death.

Tenants in their son’s home reported “suspicious things” happening on the property beginning May 28, 2019, when they noticed that all the tires on their cars had been slashed.

Next, a car was marked in red paint before a dead rat and then a dead pigeon was found in the mailbox, Webby said.

Yang met with a community agent and informed him that he suspected Li was responsible for the damage “as a way of reaching her.”

Earlier, Webby told the court that shortly after 8 a.m. on the day of his death, Yang had left home to catch a bus on Westgate Drive.

“She didn’t realize at the time, at least not until it was too late, that the man who was going to kill her was following her that morning,” he alleged.

The Crown alleges that Li stabbed her 12 times in the head, neck, chest, stomach and arms with a hunting knife that she had purchased the day before.

The blows severed a major artery in his neck and a major vein in his body, Webby said.

The court heard from several members of the public, including a nearby construction worker, who rushed to help Yang.

Webby alleged that the construction worker had seen Yang accosted from behind and dragged into a grassy area before her assailant pulled her hair back to expose her face to attack.

Another witness described a man striking a woman on the ground as she screamed hysterically, the prosecutor said.

Efforts were made to resurrect Yang.

“His life could not be saved,” Webby said.

“He died not far from where his bus had been waiting.”

As people approached, Webby said, Li left in his car but was followed by a member of the public who managed to block him with his own vehicle.

Police arrived shortly after at 8.35 am.

“Mr. Li was arrested and taken into custody,” Webby said.

“That arrest, or certainly part of it, was captured by the police Eagle helicopter flying over the scene.”

A bloodstained knife was found in Li’s car, Webby said.

The prosecutor said that before his death, Yang had been afraid of the accused.

“I was afraid he would kill her if he knew where she lived.”

Li had a tendency to violate existing protective orders, Webby said.

He had become “obsessed” with exacting revenge, or “justice as he saw it,” after a property dispute in which the court ruled in his favor, he said.

The chronology of the crown

The court heard that Yang and Li were married in China in 1997 before moving to New Zealand in 2001, where they purchased property in Blockhouse Bay.

“They both contributed some money and took out a mortgage,” Webby said.

The couple separated in 2005 and she moved to Avondale.

Shortly after, Li arrived at his property and a “heated discussion” ensued that prompted a police call, Webby said.

Yang then went to stay with friends before moving into a safe house, he said.

“This was because, and not for the last time, that Manchao Li had threatened to kill her.”

In December of that year, he was granted a protective order against Li after citing life threats and long-term abuse in his application, Webby said.

Their shared property in Blockhouse Bay was sold the previous month, but little profit was made to Yang, the court heard.

The couple divorced in 2009.

It wasn’t until 2016 that a Supreme Court judge determined that Li had purchased property in Christchurch using the proceeds from the Blockhouse Bay sale.

As a result, Yang was entitled to half, Webby said.

The following year, Li returned to Auckland.

There, while suffering from anxiety and depression, he was assigned a support worker who could speak to him in Mandarin, the court heard.

Webby said the support worker described Li as “always wanting to do justice.”

“For him, his ex-wife did something wrong and was not punished for it.”

Li told the support worker that he was going to buy a large knife to cut off his ex-wife’s hands and feet and make her suffer, Webby said.

Another protective order was granted in early 2018 and on February 9, police removed several weapons from Li’s home, including air rifles and five crowbars, Webby said.