Chinese to try Mohini suspect in Shanghai

A man suspected of murdering Auckland taxi driver Hiren Mohini will be tried in China, New Zealand police Detective Senior Sergeant Hywell Jones says.

The suspect, Zhen Xiao, will be tried in a country that normally executes murder convicts. Last year 5000 people were executed in China, normally carried out by a single shot to the back of the head.

New Zealand Police will provide help for the trial.

Indian born Mr Mohini, 39, was murdered on View Rd in Mt Eden early on January 31.

Xiao left the country before police could detain him.

Mr Hywell Jones, who is in Shanghai, made the announcement in a taped interview with an Auckland police PR official Noreen Hegarty.

Independent media are not allowed to interview Mr Hywell Jones.

Mr Hywell Jones said Xiao was located in China on February 19, after he left New Zealand.

He said he had been working with the Shanghai police who had been "excellent to deal with".

Asked by Ms Hegarty if Xiao would be bought back to New Zealand he replied: "The indications are that as Xiao is a citizen of China he will be dealt with in a court in Chinese law within the Chinese justice system."

He said this had been the case with other Chinese citizens detained in China and charged with murders in other countries.

These cases had been "successfully resolved".

Asked if New Zealand prosecutors and witnesses would have to go to China he said "the Chinese justice system will come into play ...

"There justice system works in a different way to ours, and the next steps are for the Chinese authorities to develop."

He said he was confident that the Mohini family would receive justice "quite quickly"

The full interview is available here.

- © Fairfax NZ News