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A man accused of killing his flatmate and keeping her body in a toolbox for months while stealing her family’s money has been found guilty of murder.
Yan’s mother today wept as Zhao was found guilty of murder after a Supreme Court jury spent just two hours deliberating following the two-week trial.
Zhao had pleaded guilty to interfering with Yan’s corpse, which was found concealed by police in a large toolbox on their unit’s balcony about 10 months after her murder.
Zhao murdered Yan by striking her on the head with a metal bottle and strangling her, crown prosecutor Chris Cook had told the jury.
Zhao pretended to be Yan for months, requesting bank transfers to steal $463,000 from her mother after the murder.
Her mother Rongmei Yan had been attending the trial after she travelled from Shanghai to Brisbane.
Zhao spent three days giving evidence at the trial, claiming Yan died accidentally after they had both spent up to four hours in the apartment inhaling nitrous oxide, which he referred to as “nangs” or “laughing gas”.
Zhao, a Chinese national living in Australia on a student visa, testified Yan passed out on the floor and stopped breathing while he was asleep on a nearby couch.
He claimed he hid her body because he was afraid of being charged with supplying drugs.
Zhao said he then unlocked Yan’s phone and impersonated her for months via text messages to her mother who was in China.
Yan was also a Chinese national and was the director of a migration agency.
Zhao admitted later drinking alcohol, inhaling “nangs” and having sex in the apartment metres from where Yan’s body was located on the balcony.
The jury heard Zhao claim his detailed accounts of killing Yan given to police after his arrest in July 2021 were based on thoughts he had while intoxicated, which he combined with “movies and TV dramas”.
Murder carries a mandatory life sentence in Queensland with a non-parole period of 20 years.
Zhao will be sentenced at a later date.