Alexander MinVui Wong laid in wait for his wife's lover to return home before allegedly bludgeoning the restaurant boss to death, prosecutors have alleged.
Wong believed his estranged wife Penny was having an affair with her boss, China Bar owner Yoke Onn Chi, 56, after discovering messages between the pair, prosecutor Mark Gibson KC told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Their marriage had broken down over the previous months due to Wong's infidelity and Penny had moved home to Malaysia just two weeks before Mr Chi was found dead.
Penny had been living with Mr Chi, also known as Vincent, for about four months after finding out Wong was cheating.
Before leaving Australia, Penny gave Wong her mobile phone and promised she would not talk to Mr Chi. However, Wong soon discovered Mr Chi had been calling and messaging his wife.
Wong then told a friend he wanted to teach Mr Chi "a lesson".
"It will not be a problem for me to fight him one on one," Mr Gibson said Wong told his friend.
Wong has pleaded not guilty to murder and faced the first day of a jury trial on Tuesday, where the prosecution laid out their circumstantial case against him.
He is alleged to have entered Mr Chi's home via the garage and waited for him to return home from closing up his Preston restaurant, before using a rubber mallet to beat him to death on January 31, 2020.
Mr Chi's son arrived home from work at about 11pm to find his father's lifeless body lying in a pool of blood at the entrance to his Templestowe Lower home.
"This sustained beating, the Crown says, has all the hallmarks of a crime of passion," Mr Gibson told the jury.
The owner of Northland Shopping Centre's China Bar was seen alive on CCTV leaving the car park to drive home at about 9.15pm.
Police initially believed a burglar may have attacked Mr Chi as his wallet and a bag holding the restaurant's daily takings were missing. These items, along with his iPad, have never been found.
Mr Gibson said there were no eyewitnesses who saw Wong attack Mr Chi, but a combination of DNA evidence, CCTV, text messages and witness accounts will be used to prove their case.
"The pieces fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to form a pattern of behaviour for you to analyse in determining this case," he told the jury.
The trial before Justice Michael Croucher continues on Wednesday.
