Published Monday | March 10, 2008

New Zealand Man Charged in Wife's Death
By RAY LILLEY Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A man accused of killing his wife and abandoning his child at a train station before fleeing to the U.S. was escorted back to New Zealand on Monday and charged in her death.

Nai Yin Xue made an initial court appearance in the death of Anan Liu, 27, whose body was found in the trunk of the family's car in the northern New Zealand city of Auckland on Sept. 18.

Authorities said that after killing his wife, Xue, 53, fled to Australia. A security camera recorded him apparently leaving his 3-year-old daughter at a train station in Melbourne before he flew to Los Angeles and went into hiding, police said.

Xue, the publisher of a Chinese-language magazine in New Zealand and a well-known figure in the ethnic Chinese community in Auckland, was arrested in Chamblee, Ga., on Feb. 28 after a residents of Chinese descent there recognized him from media coverage.

Xue was deported from the United States for overstaying a 90-day visa. U.S. immigration officers handed over the manacled martial arts expert to New Zealand police when plane landed early Monday.

Judge Eddie Paul in Auckland District Court ordered Xue to be held in police custody and to appear in court again on March 19. Xue did not enter a plea.

His lawyer, Chris Comeskey, said Xue was pleased to be back in New Zealand after five months.

"He's fine," Comeskey said. "He's certainly not malnourished or anything. He is happy to be back, I can tell you that."

He said there must be a careful examination of how Xue could receive a fair trial given the publicity surrounding the case.

"There has been huge media interest around the country and it has been sustained for some time. So that'll be an issue that will need to be looked at some stage undoubtedly," he said.

Xue's daughter Qian Xun Xue has been living in China with family members. She has been nicknamed "Pumpkin" after the brand of clothing she was wearing when she was found crying for her mother at the train station.

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