A New Zealand man at the center of an international manhunt after abandoning his three-year-old daughter at an Australian railway station was yesterday found guilty of killing his wife.
A jury found Naiyin Xue, 55, guilty of strangling Anan Liu in Auckland in September 2007 before he dumped their daughter in Melbourne and fled to the US.
Liu’s half-naked body was discovered in the boot of a car in New Zealand shortly after toddler Qianxun Xue, nicknamed “Pumpkin” by Australian police after the brand of clothing she was wearing, was found crying alone at a Melbourne railway station where her father left her.
PHOTO: AFP
REWARD
Mr Xue was caught five months later on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, by six Chinese-Americans who recognized him after US marshalls had posted a US$10,000 reward for his capture.
He was extradited back to New Zealand denying he had anything to do with his wife’s death, but this was rejected by a jury after a three-week trial at the High Court in Auckland.
During the trial, the prosecution said Xue had strangled his wife with a necktie, while his lawyers argued Liu may have died as a result of a sexual asphyxiation practice gone wrong involving one or two other men.
They said Xue, who did not give evidence, did not know his wife was dead when he abandoned his daughter.
When the guilty verdict was announced, Xue pumped his fist in the air and shouted in Mandarin, “I am innocent,” as he was taken away to the cells. He faces a mandatory life sentence in prison with a non-parole period yet to be decided.
His defense lawyer, Chris Comeskey, yesterday said that the CCTV images of his client abandoning the child at the railway station had not helped his case.
“That was the mountain of prejudice that we had to overcome, it was huge,” he told Fairfax newspapers.
Xue was the publisher of the Chinese Times in Auckland and his wife’s body was found in the boot of the newspaper’s car during a search of the family home four days after the distraught toddler Qianxun had been found in Australia.
The plight of the three-year-old made headlines around the world as Interpol searched for her family.
“It is one of the most intriguing matters I’ve been involved in,” said Inspector Brad Shallies, the Melbourne officer leading the investigation.
Photos of Mr Xue featured in newspapers and on the crime television show “America’s Most Wanted,” but he managed to elude authorities for nearly five months until he was recognized in Atlanta.
The jury heard of an unhappy family home with one witness saying Liu had only married her husband so she could gain New Zealand residency. She left him two months before she was murdered but agreed to return a few weeks later.
AXE TO GRIND
Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins said Xue had traveled to Wellington with an axe prepared to kill her if she did not return home.
Comeskey had told jurors the publisher had left New Zealand because he thought his relationship was over and his newspaper was losing money.
He said after the verdict that Xue was devastated and maintained his innocence. Qianxun is now living in China with her grandmother, Liu Xiaoping, who gave evidence at the trial by videolink.
When the judge asked how the young girl was doing, the grandmother broke down at the end of her reply, which was not translated for the jury after the judge said it could be controversial.
Speaking outside the court after the verdict, inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant Simon Scott said Qianxun was “happy, healthy and thriving” in China.
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