A jury has been unable to decide whether a man accused of stabbing to death two men with whom he was having a property dispute with is guilty of their murder.
Cheng Qi "Chris" Wang is accused of murdering Zhuo "Michael" Wu, 44, and Yishan "Tom" Zhong, 53, outside a multi-million dollar home in Mt Albert, Auckland, in January last year.
But after more than two days of deliberation, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the charges, Crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb told NZ Newswire.
It is the second time the case has failed to reach a conclusion. Wang's first trial was abandoned earlier this year because two jurors became sick and could not continue.
A further trial will now be scheduled.
The jury began considering its verdict about 11.45am on Tuesday, just over three weeks after the trial started, and told the court about 2.45pm today they could not reach a decision.
Mr Glubb told jurors at the start of the trial that the deaths followed a long-running dispute between Wang and his former partner Michelle Chen over properties they owned.
She claimed she was not receiving income from them and wanted Wang out of one of their houses.
Mr Glubb told jurors Wang met police at the front door on January 14 last year in blood-soaked pyjamas and later told them he stabbed Wu after wrestling a knife off him but did not stab Zhong.
Wang argued that he acted in self-defence.
The two sides will meet for a callover in the High Court next week to set a date for another trial.
NZN