A jury has been shown CCTV footage of a man buying a spade on the day Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao went missing, who the Crown says is her killer.
The 44-year-old mother vanished on 19 July, 2023, and her remains were found in a shallow grave in farmland near Christchurch just over a year later.
Chinese national Tingjun Cao, 53, is charged with her murder.
On Tuesday, the High Court trial heard from New Brighton hardware store owner Dennis Shrimpton. He described a customer who bought a spade on 19 July.
"An Asian gentleman came into my shop holding his phone and speaking to it. He showed me the phone but nothing there was readable. He was trying to tell me something. He gave up on the phone and started indicating with his body.
"I thought he wanted something to fold up. He then indicated sort of a digging motion, but that made little sense either other than me thinking the guy wants to buy a fork. But then he clearly indicated he wanted to dig a hole. That told me he was after a spade."
CCTV footage shows Tingjun Cao, the Crown alleges, buying a spade the day Yanfei Bao went missing. Photo: Supplied
Shrimpton said the man looked to be in his late 40s, and the jury was shown CCTV footage of the purchase. The Crown alleged this man was Cao.
Defence lawyer Joshua Macleod asked Shrimpton if he saw any marks on the man's hands or bloodstains on his clothing. Shrimpton said he did not see any marks, but recalled a stain on the man's trousers above his knee.
After Shrimpton finished his evidence, Cao stood up in court and started yelling and waving documents, before being escorted out.
On Monday the trial also heard from a witness who saw a vehicle matching the description of one police were looking for following Bao's disappearance driving erratically the day she vanished.
Police found Bao's car - a silver Nissan Dualis - in Iroquois Place, Wigram, around 10.45pm the evening of 19 July, 2023.
Christchurch man Jason Saunders described seeing a Nissan car weaving all over the road, without its headlights and indicator lights on, in the Wigram area about 7pm that evening. He took note of the vehicle because it was dark and it had no lights on, he said.
"The car was weaving a bit from side to side over the road, so over the centre line and back towards the left hand side of the road."
Saunders said he could not make out the registration number of the vehicle, what the driver looked like or the number of occupants.
He contacted police after seeing a media article about police looking for a Nissan Dualis car in relation to Bao's disappearance.
The Crown case is that Cao stabbed Bao multiple times at the Trevor Street property, dragged her body through the house and put it in the boot of his car. Bao's body was found in a grave on a Greenpark farm in July.
Crown prosecutor Cameron Stuart said a photo retrieved from Cao's phone had an image which the Crown said was Bao's dead body, which showed her naked from the waist down and blood on her body.
Stuart said the Crown did not need to prove motive, but the photo might suggest a sexual element to the attack.
Cao's defence lawyer Joshua MacLeod said the Crown's evidence was not enough to prove the murder charge, and the evidence was much muddier than they wanted it to appear.
"How did they approach this case, how did it develop, and when. Who were they looking at and why, and how wide a net did they cast? What evidence can you actually rely on?" he said.
The trial began on 21 October and is expected to run for six weeks.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
