The convicted murderer – Xue Naiyin (薛乃印 – was born in 1954, and is a native of Julu area of Hebei province, Northeast China – but he grew-up in nearby Liaoning (formerly ‘Manchuria’). He claims to be from an old family of martial arts masters (specialising in ‘Wu’ [吳] Style Taijiquan). He later immigrated to New Zealand – becoming renowned as a highly effective and popular martial arts instructor who defeated all his opponents and attracted large numbers of students. He also published a very successful magazine in Auckland – New Zealand’s largest city. His Chinese-language magazine, (entitled ‘Chinatown’ – [唐人街 – Tang Ren Jie’]) however, eventually developed financial troubles and ran-up huge debts.
In September 2007 – 53-year-old Xue Naiyin (now an ‘Overseas’ Chinese-person living in New Zealand) – was suspected of killing his 27-year-old wife – Liu Anan (劉安安) – in Auckland. After he flew to Melbourne (Australia) he abandoned his 3-year-old daughter – Xue Qianxun (薛千寻) – at a local train station, before fleeing to Los Angeles (USA) by aeroplane. New Zealand and the United States, however, both issued arrest warrants for Xue Naiyin.
On February 29, 2008, in the town of Chambly on the outskirts of Atlanta, USA, several Overseas Chinese workers living there – recognized Xue Naiyin from a ‘Wanted’ poster. Despite him being a dangerous martial arts practitioner, these ordinary Chinese workers used their intelligence and managed to subdue and control him before notify the police. The police arrived then and arrested him. On March 10 of the same year, Xue Naiyin was deported back to New Zealand, whilst Liu Anan’s daughter – Xue Qianxun – returned to Hunan, (China) to live with her loving grandmother.
On June 2, 2009, the Auckland High Court of New Zealand formally opened the Tial against Xue Naiyin entitled “Wife-killing and Abandoning Daughter Case”, which became a sensation in New Zealand. The trial lasted more than three weeks. During the trial, more than 90 witnesses appeared in Court or gave evidence through video, including Witnesses from the United States, Australia and China.
On June 20, 2009, a jury of the Auckland High Court of New Zealand ruled that the New Zealand Chinese-person named ‘Xue Naiyin’ was ‘Guilty’ of murdering his wife – Liu Anan – and is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment. After hearing the jury read out the verdict of ‘Guilty’, Xue Naiyin, 55, lost control of his emotions, stood up in the Court and waved his fists, shouting “I disagree!” and “I am innocent!”. In the end, he was forcibly taken away by the Bailiff.
The prosecutor charged Xue Naiyin with murder for strangling his wife with a tie on or about September 11, 2007, and then hiding the body in the trunk of his car. Two days later, he flew to Melbourne, Australia with his 3-year-old daughter – Xue Qianxun – whom he abandoned at Melbourne’s Southern Cross Railway Station, before flying to Los Angeles.
The defence lawyer denied that it was Xue Naiyin who killed Liu Anan, stating that Xue Naiyin did not know that Liu Anan was dead when he fled to Melbourne, and that Liu Anan could have died for other reasons. One thing worth noting about this trial is that all 12 jurors were women. After reading the verdict, some jurors were emotional and shed tears.
On July 31, the Auckland High Court of New Zealand issued a verdict on the “Wife-Killing and Abandoning Daughter Case” as pertaining to Overseas Chinese-person Xue Naiyin and sentenced him to life imprisonment with no parole for at least 12 years. Judge Williams said that taking into account Xue Naiyin’s brutality at the time of the crime, the huge harm his crimes caused to the victim’s relatives and his daughter, and the extremely bad impact on the community, the Court increased the ‘no parole’ period from 10 years to 12 years. Xue Naiyin’s defence lawyer told the media – after the verdict was announced – that Xue Naiyin would appeal against the verdict. This Appeal failed and in 2020 – Xue Naiyin – finally ‘confessed’ to murdering his wife – Liu Anan.
Chinese Language Sources:
https://baike.baidu.com/item/薛乃印
https://www.sohu.com/a/382050591_376229
https://m.sohu.com/n/252492781/
http://phtv.ifeng.com/program/fhzbc/detail_2007_09/21/1059111_0.shtml
