A man who was An An Liu's landlord in Wellington for six weeks has told a court of seeing a man with a torch looking through his room about 2.30am.
The crown says the man was Ms Liu's husband Nai Yin Xue, 55, who is on trial at the High Court at Auckland charged with murdering her in September 2007.
The landlord, Weihong Song, told the court Ms Liu moved in with him at the end of June 2007.
He said she told him she moved from Auckland to escape Xue, who was violent towards her and unfeeling towards their daughter, Qian Xun Xue, also known by her English name Claire.
Mr Song said about two weeks later he woke after his dog started barking and saw a middle-aged, fat man shining a torch on his bed.
"I've got a gun in my bedroom and I got the gun from the gun safe and ran out to try to catch them," Mr Song said.
"When I gone out, I can't see anyone." Mr Song said he quickly tried to contact Ms Liu, whose door was locked, because she'd said her husband had told her he would find her and kill her if she ran away from him.
The crown says the man was Xue, whose car was captured by a speed camera going to and from Wellington that night.
About two weeks later Ms Liu showed Mr Song a computer message from her husband saying he was leaving New Zealand and wanted to see their daughter before he left.
Three weeks after that, Ms Liu told him she was leaving for Auckland because she felt it would be safer there, a suggestion he tried to discourage.
Ms Liu's body was found in the boot of Xue's car a month later. A post mortem determined she had been strangled.
Xue had by this stage fled New Zealand, and Qian Xun was found abandoned at a Melbourne railway station. Xue was caught in the United States in February 2008.
The trial is into its fourth day and expected to last a further two weeks.
