The man who allegedly kidnapped missing Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao has appeared in court, after her husband spoke about the “nightmare” ordeal.
Bao was last seen in the Wigram area about 10.30am on Wednesday. She has not been found but her cellphone was located on the city's Southern Motorway on Friday.
On Sunday, Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves said a man had been charged with kidnapping in relation to the ongoing investigation into Bao’s disappearance.
A 52-year-old Bryndwr resident appeared in the Christchurch District Court this morning before Judge Michael Crosbie.
Court documents allege the man “unlawfully took away Yanfei Bao without her consent with intent to cause her to be confined”.
The man, who was assisted by an interpreter, was granted interim name suppression and remanded in custody to appear on August 15.
His lawyer said the man’s family had not been informed about his arrest.
The New Zealand Herald understands the man was arrested at an airport and was planning to leave the country.
Distraught husband Paul Gooch this morning spoke to the Herald of his devastation at his wife’s vanishing five days ago.
”It’s just a nightmare,” he said at his Christchurch home in the west of the city.
”It still feels surreal... I still can’t quite believe that this is all unfolding.”
Gooch said he remained hopeful for a positive outcome, and that wife would come home to him and their young daughter.
”Otherwise, it’s a very dark head space to be in,” he said.
”But it fluctuates for me... it’s unbelievable, to be honest.”
Gooch became emotional when thanking the public, mutual friends, and family during the ordeal.
”I just want to thank them all so far for their wonderful support, which we really do appreciate,” he said, fighting back tears.
”They have all just been so kind.”
Reeves told NZME on Monday police had received “well over” 100 pieces of information from the public. She added police were not ruling out further charges in relation to the man facing the kidnapping charge.
She said police were still treating Bao as a “missing person”.
“We are still trying to locate her.
“The concern continues to grow the longer that we don’t know where she is.”
Asked about a potential motive, Reeves said a big focus of the investigation would be to look into Bao’s background and her activites to “see who she may have crossed paths with... to work out what the motivation might be, it’s too early to say what that is at this stage”.
Houses that were being searched were “places of interest” as a result of inquiries to date.
“Some of this is to rule places in as parts of interest, and sometimes it’s actually to rule places out as locations of interest.”
On Monday morning police could be seen searching a third property on Trevor St, in Hornby. The house is currently listed for sale by Harcourts.
As part of their inquiries, police are seeking sightings of a vehicle - a silver Mitsubishi sedan, registration DPH101.
“We’re interested in sightings of the vehicle from mid-week up until last night, but with a particular focus on the vehicle’s location on Wednesday, July 19 in Wigram, Hornby, Tai Tapu, Halswell, Redcliffs and New Brighton.”
