A defence witness says she saw Nai Yin Xue driving a car with a woman and child as passengers the day after prosecutors believe he murdered his wife An An Liu.
Susan Nuttall was one of two witnesses who gave evidence for Xue at the High Court in Auckland today.
The crown has argued Xue, 55, the owner of the Chinese Times, strangled Ms Liu with a neck tie before putting her body in the boot of his Chinese Times car, and that it was probably on September 11, 2007.
They say he then flew to Melbourne two days later with his three-year-old daughter Qian Xun Xue, and then abandoned her at a Melbourne train station on September 15 before flying to the United States.
Ms Nuttall said she remembered a Chinese news car nearly hitting her in suburban Hillsborough on September 12, 2007, a day she was certain about as she was flying to Melbourne herself the next day.
She said she was clearly able to identify the driver as Xue after contacting police about the incident about a week later.
Ms Nuttall said she was also confident she saw a smaller Asian woman in the front seat, and a child in a child seat in the rear.
"They appeared as a family," she said.
"That's what made me angry initially because I thought he was abusing his company car privilege by taking his family out for a joyride."
Under cross-examination, she said she was unable to get a clear view of the woman and child but she was sure she saw enough to be sure the woman was of Asian ethnicity.
She said she was unable to identify the woman.
The only other witness called by Xue's lawyer Chris Comeskey was John Carter, the vice president of the New Zealand chapter of the international guild of knot tyers.
Ms Liu's body was found with a tie around her neck in a knot Mr Carter described as a granny knot, a knot he described as "amateurish". He said it appeared very loosely tied.
Mr Carter said that if pressure was applied, it would make the loop bigger but the knot smaller and tighter. He said once loosened, it was unlikely to revert back to its original shape.
Under cross-examination, he was asked if the knot would tighten when pressure was applied if the knot was held firmly and if pressure was applied to the other part of the tie.
"It would depend on what is stronger, the hand pulling knot or the hand behind," he said.
Lead prosecutor Aaron Perkins will present the crown's closing arguments tomorrow morning, after which Mr Comeskey will present arguments on behalf of Xue.
The jury is expected to be retire to consider its verdict on Friday.
