A man accused of murdering his wife in New Zealand before abandoning his daughter in Australia was a violent man who was angry with his wife for not giving birth to a son, a High Court jury has been told.
Nai Yin Xue, 55, is charged with murdering Anan Liu, 28, in September 2007.
The couple's daughter Qian Xun Xue, then aged 3, was found alone at Melbourne Railway Station a few days before her mother's body was discovered in the boot of a car in Auckland.
Mr Xue was later apprehended in the United States.
Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins told the High Court in Auckland on Tuesday that Ms Liu was strangled with a man's neck tie that was still on her body when she was found.
Mr Perkins says Ms Liu lived in fear of her husband, who had been convicted of assaulting her about a year before she died.
The court was told the accused was domineering and controlling and had threatened to kill Ms Liu if she ever left him.
The Crown told the court an upbeat Nai Yin Xue thought he had got away with murder after he abandoned his daughter and set out to board a plane.
Mr Perkins described security footage of the accused going through departures at a Melbourne airport, telling the jury they may interpret Mr Xue's happy, confident demeanour as a man thinking he had got away with murder.
Mr Perkins says Mr Xue told several lies to cover his tracks as he left.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Xue entered a plea of not guilty and told Justice Williams that he is innocent.
Twelve women have been selected for the jury, a make-up the judge described as unusual.
Justice Williams warned the jury about making moral judgements about Mr Xue abandoning his daughter, saying they must only judge him on the events that happened in New Zealand.
The Crown is expected to call more than 90 witnesses, with some giving evidence via video link from Australia and the US.
Mr Xue was detained in the US by people who recognised him from a television crime show several months after his wife's death.
