The trial of Xiao Chen () in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, for the murder of Hiren Mohini in

Mount Eden Mount Eden is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand whose name honours George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland. It is south of the Central Business District (CBD). Mt Eden Road winds its way around the side of Mount Eden Domain and continues to weave ba ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, is notable as the first time a New Zealand

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

has been tried in a foreign court. In the Chinese media, the case was frequently referred to as "New Zealand's first murder case" (新西兰第一命案).

Crime

Hiren Mohini, a taxi driver born in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, had picked up a fare in central

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and gone to Mount Eden between 1:00 am and 2:00 am on 31 January 2010. At Mount Eden, he was fatally stabbed, apparently by a passenger. Police found a knife and soon had a suspect, based partly on CCTV footage.

NZ$ The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; sign: $, NZ$; code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New Zea ...

100,000 was raised from the New Zealand public to support Mohini's family. The suspect, Xiao Zhen, was a 23-year old Chinese national and kitchen worker at the SkyCity casino complex. Zhen left New Zealand for China on 4 February, apparently to visit a sick grandfather. China does not have an

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

agreement with New Zealand and in any case does not extradite Chinese citizens even when an extradition treaty does exist.

Trial

After reciprocal visits between the

and Chinese police, Xiao Zhen was arrested in Shanghai in June 2010. The New Zealand authorities obtained formal written assurances that the death penalty would not be invoked. New Zealand has not had the death penalty for murder since 1961, and does not extradite criminal suspects to countries where they could face a death sentence. All the New Zealand evidence was translated into Chinese by the New Zealand police for the trial at the Second Intermediate People's Court in Shanghai at which the suspect confessed. Xiao Zhen claimed that Mohini had verbally insulted him after he boarded the taxi. Xiao demanded that he stop the taxi and refused to pay the fare. A struggle ensued, and Xiao Zhen stabbed the driver with a kitchen knife. The trial lasted only a few hours, with no in-person evidence presented, but Mandarin translations of witness statements and evidence were handed up to the judges. A verdict and sentence was expected on 17 August 2011. On 17 August, Xiao Zhen was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Aftermath

Associate Professor Bill Hodge of the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

called the trial "an insult to New Zealand

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

References

{{Reflist, 30em Judiciary of China New Zealand court system Crime in Auckland Extradition case law New Zealand case law Chinese law China–New Zealand relations Trials in China 2011 in law 2011 in China 2011 in New Zealand law 2010s in Shanghai 2010 murders in New Zealand Indian diaspora in New Zealand

Crime

Trial

Aftermath

See also

References