Xue captors pass reward to his child

Accused remanded in custody after court appearance

JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post

IN THE DOCK: Nai Yin Xue with his interpreter at Auckland District Court.

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The reluctant heroes who captured fugitive Nai Yin Xue will give most of the US$10,000 reward to his daughter, Qian Xun.

"We feel so sorry for her," said Guisen Wu, one of the six Chinese immigrants who caught Xue in Atlanta last month.

"She is too young. She needs money more than us, she lost her mum. We can work to earn the money, but she can't."

The group of cooks and delivery men, who live in crowded conditions and work long hours to send money home to their families in China, ended a five-month global manhunt after they recognised a picture of Xue in a Chinese-language newspaper.

Luring him to a meeting, they tied him up with his pants and belt and sat on him till police arrived.

Xue, 54, was deported back to New Zealand shortly after, arriving on March 10.

He is charged with the murder of his wife, Anan Liu, whose body was found in the boot of a car outside their home in Mt Roskill, Auckland.

Xue appeared in court again today and has been remanded to appear in the Auckland District Court on April 30.

A charge of abducting his three-year-old daughter, whom he abandoned at a Melbourne railway station on September 15 before fleeing to the United States, was withdrawn.

New Zealand police had offered a US$10,000 (NZ$12,700) reward for his capture, but Mr Wu told The Dominion Post the group did not know of the reward when they caught Xue.

When they learned of the money, they discussed what to do.

All six have signed a contract to give the spoils of their heroism away - $2000 for an elderly friend unable to care for herself.

The other $8000 is destined for the small girl, who is now living in China with her grandmother.

Mr Wu, 46, works 13-hour days as a kitchenhand and sleeps in one of two beds crammed in the apartment's living room so he can send money to his family in China.

But he said though they all lived in crowded conditions, Xue's daughter needed the money more.

He denied the group were heroes, saying it is what anyone would do. "Good conquers evil."

- with Kim Ruscoe

- © Fairfax NZ News