Solace for taxi widow as police identify killer

The grieving widow of the Auckland taxi driver stabbed to death last month is relieved investigators know who killed him.

A member of the public gave police the name of the man caught on CCTV footage the night Hiren Mohini, 39, was murdered. The wanted man is believed to be overseas.

Family friend Bipin Tavadia said Mr Mohini's widow, Falguni, was very happy at the news.

"And she will be very happy if he gets imprisonment for at least 15 to 20 years."

If the killer could afford to flee the country at short notice, that proved Mr Mohini's death was not over money.

Mr Mohini's cousin Ashish Mohini said every step towards catching the man helped the family's closure. Relatives who came out from India to support Mrs Mohini had now returned home, he said.

"And that's when the reality strikes [for Falguni]."

It is nearly a month since Mr Mohini was found slumped over his cab wheel in View Rd, Mt Eden, with stab wounds to the neck and chest, after picking up a passenger in the central city.

A team of 50 officers has been hunting Mr Mohini's killer, taking unprecedented steps such as putting up in the central city a billboard of a man filmed getting into the cab.

DVDs of a 90-second track of footage have also been circulated around media offices, supermarkets and shops.

Detective Senior Sergeant Hywel Jones, who heads the investigation, said police were making a concerted effort to track the man overseas. He did not say where, but TV3 reported it was China.

In May last year, Leo Gao fled to China with partner Kara Hurring and her daughter Leena after Westpac bank mistakenly advanced his BP business a $10 million overdraft. The couple transferred about $6.7 million before the alarm was raised. The bank recovered less than half.

Months after their disappearance, New Zealand police had not gone to China to track them. Detectives had prepared a "mutual assistance request" for the Chinese Government, and in June the document was reportedly at the Interpol bureau in Wellington.

Ashish Mohini admitted the Westpac case was in the back of the family's minds. "But police said they're sure they are doing everything that is required to get through the red tape and protocols [to get there] and are working in conjunction with overseas police, Government and so forth," he said.

Mr Jones said staff had been investigating the alleged killer's whereabouts for the past week. "We believe he is overseas and we are working with the appropriate agencies to locate him.

"While we're disappointed a broadcaster chose to publicise some details we would rather not have been made public at this time for operational reasons, the long-term outcome of our investigation will reveal whether their choice has any influence on our efforts to track him down."