ISSUE
Friday, August 15, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 72
A history-making trial in China for a murder committed in New Zealand is set to get underway within a few weeks.
Auckland taxi driver Hiren Mohini, 39, died when he was allegedly stabbed by Zhen Xiao, in Mt Eden, Auckland, in January last year.
Zhen, 24, left the country a week after the slaying. He was arrested in China four months later and charged with murder.
It will be the first time a man has been tried in another country for a murder alleged to have been committed in New Zealand. This apparently happened because New Zealand does not have an extradition treaty with China and after discussions between authorities, it was agreed he would be tried in China.
The Chinese also agreed that if convicted, Zhen would not face the death penalty.
If found guilty, he would be sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period, likely to be higher than the mandatory, minimum 10 years which applied in New Zealand, said Detective Senior Sergeant Hywel Jones, who will travel to China for the trial.
Mr Jones said he had hoped Zhen would be tried this month but it was now more likely to be next month.
"I have no confirmed date but that is what we are working towards," he said.
He said no prosecution witnesses or members of Mr Mohini's family would go to the trial.
He said because a trial had never been held before in another country for a crime committed in New Zealand, both sides were still "feeling their way."
In an earlier report in the Indian Weekender in January, a leading legal academic said having the trial in China “was an insult to the jurisdiction of New Zealand”.
Associate Professor Bill Hodge of the University of Auckland said criminal proceedings had taken place in the country where the crime was committed for hundreds of years.
"To me, it is an insult to the jurisdiction of New Zealand."
Prof Hodge told the NZ Herald that New Zealand, as a sovereign nation, had a responsibility to Mr Mohini's widow and two daughters to deliver justice.
"That is the duty of a sovereign. They've done their best but they cannot deliver justice to that woman and her two children and that is the regret."
He said if Zhen was to stand trial in China, then he should be tried under New Zealand law as it was at the time the murder happened.
A history-making trial in China for a murder committed in New Zealand is set to get underway within a few weeks. Auckland taxi driver Hiren Mohini, 39, died when he was allegedly stabbed by Zhen Xiao, in Mt Eden, Auckland, in January last year. Zhen, 24, left the country a week after the...
A history-making trial in China for a murder committed in New Zealand is set to get underway within a few weeks.
Auckland taxi driver Hiren Mohini, 39, died when he was allegedly stabbed by Zhen Xiao, in Mt Eden, Auckland, in January last year.
Zhen, 24, left the country a week after the slaying. He was arrested in China four months later and charged with murder.
It will be the first time a man has been tried in another country for a murder alleged to have been committed in New Zealand. This apparently happened because New Zealand does not have an extradition treaty with China and after discussions between authorities, it was agreed he would be tried in China.
The Chinese also agreed that if convicted, Zhen would not face the death penalty.
If found guilty, he would be sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period, likely to be higher than the mandatory, minimum 10 years which applied in New Zealand, said Detective Senior Sergeant Hywel Jones, who will travel to China for the trial.
Mr Jones said he had hoped Zhen would be tried this month but it was now more likely to be next month.
"I have no confirmed date but that is what we are working towards," he said.
He said no prosecution witnesses or members of Mr Mohini's family would go to the trial.
He said because a trial had never been held before in another country for a crime committed in New Zealand, both sides were still "feeling their way."
In an earlier report in the Indian Weekender in January, a leading legal academic said having the trial in China “was an insult to the jurisdiction of New Zealand”.
Associate Professor Bill Hodge of the University of Auckland said criminal proceedings had taken place in the country where the crime was committed for hundreds of years.
"To me, it is an insult to the jurisdiction of New Zealand."
Prof Hodge told the NZ Herald that New Zealand, as a sovereign nation, had a responsibility to Mr Mohini's widow and two daughters to deliver justice.
"That is the duty of a sovereign. They've done their best but they cannot deliver justice to that woman and her two children and that is the regret."
He said if Zhen was to stand trial in China, then he should be tried under New Zealand law as it was at the time the murder happened.
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