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Murder link to brothels, abduction
GARY ADSHEAD and LUKE ELIOT
EXCLUSIVE, The West Australian
October 23, 2010, 8:11 am

A police investigation into the murder of a Balga mother has uncovered connections between the killing, Perth's sex trade and the abduction of the victim's child in China.

The West Australian has confirmed that five months before 27-year-old Dan Sun was killed in the driveway of her rented home on September 30, her two-year-old daughter Kiki was snatched from a house by unknown men in the Chinese city of Shenyang near the North Korean border.

Ms Sun was in China at the time visiting her parents.

She sought help from the Australian Embassy and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in May and June to get the child back and was eventually reunited with Kiki in Perth.

In April, Ms Sun had separated from her husband Nuo "Arnold" Zhao and moved out of the couple's Mindarie home with her daughter to a rental unit in Stedham Way, Balga.

Mr Zhao, described by police this week as a person of interest in the crime, was holidaying in China at the time of his wife's murder and has told detectives he has no plans to return to Australia to collect Kiki.

The 31-year-old part-time security guard drove a luxury Mercedes-Benz coupe, owns two Perth houses and was having a third built in Quinns Rocks when his wife was killed.

It can now be revealed that one of two cars captured on a surveillance camera circling Stedham Way in the hours leading up to the murder was Mr Zhao's Mercedes.

During the planned attack Ms Sun's 53-year-old mother, Jie Shen Kang, was struck repeatedly with a hammer and remains in a critical condition in hospital. A spear gun was also fired at her but missed.

Police are trying to determine who was in the distinctive silver coupe and a white Mitsubishi Magna used to block Ms Sun's car in the driveway before she was killed with a knife.

It's possible that those responsible for the murder flew into Perth from overseas and have left the country.

The West Australian understands police are investigating the links between Mr Zhao, an Inglewood brothel and the supply of young Asian women to Perth's sex market.

He regularly visited the Beaufort Street brothel and was good friends with one of the managers.

"The husband was my friend, she was my friend," the manager told The West Australian.

"Yeah, he good man, good friend. I already tell the police, so I nothing else to say."

Mr Zhao's mother, Tie Pei Song, was living at her son's Mindarie home and taking care of Kiki at the time of Ms Sun's murder.

She flew out of Australia on October 11, four days before police seized the Mercedes.

"The woman was terrified by what had happened and all the media attention," a neighbour of Mr Zhao's said.

Apart from working as a security guard with his pet German shepherd, Mr Zhao was a director of two private Perth companies - Vast Gain and ZN. Police believe they were involved in importing products from China.

He had married Ms Sun, who also used the name Vivian, at the Perth Convention Centre in April 2008. Before she was murdered, she had been studying English and operated a fingernail painting business from home.

Ms Sun's father is in Perth planning a funeral for his daughter.