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The man accused of murdering his ex-wife was suspected of leaving dead animals, death threats and cutting car tires on his son’s rental property months before she was killed, the court heard.
Manchao Li, 65, has denied murdering Zhimin Yang, also known as Jennifer, at Massey in West Auckland in July last year.
He has also denied violating a protection order that prevented him from contacting his ex-wife, a former university professor who came to New Zealand in search of a better life.
The Crown’s case is that Li was obsessed with getting revenge on Yang for a property dispute after the couple divorced.
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In Auckland High Court, Crown Prosecutor Nick Webby said Yang was attacked from behind and stabbed 12 times with a hunting knife while walking to a bus stop on July 29 last year.
CCTV footage was broadcast to Li’s court on Thursday buying a knife used to kill pigs the day before the alleged attack.
“She didn’t realize at the time and not until it was too late that the man who would kill her had followed her,” Webby said.
LAWRENCE SMITH / THINGS
Forensic personnel review the scene of the incident in West Auckland. (First published July 2019)
On Thursday, a woman who lived on Yang’s son Massey’s property told the court how they endured months of threats.
In May 2019, she and her husband had their car tires slashed shortly after they installed a closed-circuit television that detected a man spray-painting the car.
A week later, a dead rat was found in the mailbox and a dead pigeon was found shortly after.
Threatening letters were also left in the family mailbox.
“Get out of my country, son of a bitch, before I exterminate you myself, your cat eating son of a bitch [sic]. “
The woman thought it was just racist behavior and called the police.
Shortly after, the family received another letter telling them that they had to leave home.
“But if you stay in this house you will become part of the problem and I will have to do whatever it takes to fix the problem,” the letter said.
Then the woman informed Yang about the threats and was sure it was Li.
David White / Stuff
Crown prosecutor Nick Webby said Manchao Li was obsessed with his ex-wife.
The woman told the court how she feared for her and her family’s safety after the threats.
Agent Michael Nolan said Yang expressed concern not only for his safety, but also for the safety of the tenants.
When questioned by Sam Wimsett, Nolan said Li was not interviewed or charged in connection with the incidents.
Earlier Thursday, the court heard how three months before Yang’s alleged murder, she was walking home from her bus stop around 7 p.m.
He called the police and gave Officer Dylan May a statement saying he could see Li clearly and hid behind a tree.
“I didn’t see where Manchao went because I was too scared to look back,” Yang said in the statement.
Yang waited behind the tree for up to 10 minutes before noticing other people nearby.
“I think he did this to try to find me … when I saw him I was very scared.
“I think if Manchao knew where I lived he would kill me.”
Officer Dylan May, who took the statement at Yang’s home, saw Li the next day and warned him to violate the protection order, yet there was insufficient evidence to arrest him, the court heard.
Lawrence Smith / Stuff
Manchao Li was found loitering near his ex-wife’s home months before she was allegedly stabbed to death.
EXTREMELY SCARED
Yang was working at a library in West Auckland where Li frequently violated the protection order and visited her, it was said.
Earlier Thursday, his former manager, Joanne Crummer, told the court that she had known Yang for about eight years.
Crummer said library staff were informed that Yang had a protective order against Li in 2014 and if he appeared to call 111.
However, in August of that year, Li appeared at the library and Yang left feeling “extremely scared.”
“I know she was extremely scared and she refused to leave the library through the front door and arranged for a friend to pick her up through the back door,” Crummer said.
A year later, Crummer received a fax from Li that contained 20 pages of personal documents related to Yang.
In March 2017, Crummer was working in his office when Yang walked in to inform him that Li was back at the library.
“I was very upset and didn’t want to leave my office because there was no protection order … it had expired.”
In 2018, Sheriff Martyn Spear informed Crummer that a protection order had been served and that there were concerns for the safety of Yang and the library staff, he said.
A security plan was put in place, however it was decided that Yang would be transferred to the City Central Library in a non-public job.
Spear and another officer had seized a pair of air rifles, a sling, a hunting knife, a combat knife, five crowbars and a tracking device, he said.
The court previously heard that Li was found guilty of violating protection orders in 2008 and 2014 after he visited her at work several times.
