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.
‘EYE FOR AN EYE’: Two of the men were shot by a male relative of the victims, whose families turned down the opportunity to offer them amnesty, the Supreme Court said Four men were yesterday publicly executed in Afghanistan, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power. The executions in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out publicly in sports stadiums. Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the center
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is leaning into his banking background as his country fights a trade war with the US, but his financial ties have also made him a target for conspiracy theories. Incorporating tropes familiar to followers of the far-right QAnon movement, conspiratorial social media posts about the Liberal leader have surged ahead of the country’s April 28 election. Posts range from false claims he recited a “satanic chant” at a campaign event to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of him in a pool with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “He’s the ideal person to be targeted here, for sure, due to
DISPUTE: Beijing seeks global support against Trump’s tariffs, but many governments remain hesitant to align, including India, ASEAN countries and Australia China is reaching out to other nations as the US layers on more tariffs, in what appears to be an attempt by Beijing to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat. Days into the effort, it is meeting only partial success from countries unwilling to ally with the main target of US President Donald Trump’s trade war. Facing the cratering of global markets, Trump on Wednesday backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, saying countries were lining up to negotiate more favorable conditions. China has refused to seek talks, saying the US was insincere and that it
RSS