Taxi driver murder verdict due next week

The widow of Auckland taxi driver Hiren Mohini will know next Wednesday how long the man who murdered her husband will spend in jail.

Chinese authorities today advised Auckland police the judges who presided over the murder trial of Zhen Xiao in Shanghai's Second Intermediate Court will deliver their verdict on August 17.

The trial of Zhen, 24, accused of murdering Mr Mohini in Auckland in January 2010, lasted only a few hours.

There were no prosecution witnesses and the court received hand-up evidence from New Zealand police which had been translated into Mandarin.

Mr Mohini, 39, was found dead in his crashed taxi in the Aukland suburb of Mt Eden on January 31. He had been stabbed.

Zhen fled to China a few days after the stabbing and was arrested in June 2010.

He was tried in China because there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.

New Zealand sought an assurance from the Chinese that if he was found guilty he would not get the death sentence.

Mr Mohini's widow said life had been emotionally hard on her and her daughters, Hetvi, five, and Yashvi, seven, since the trial began.

"I am trying to do my best for my girls,'' she told NZPA.

Yashvi was very upset.

"She is seven years old so she understands what is going on.''

Mrs Mohini said she was getting good support from around the country, particularly from the Indian community and even people she did not know. She said she wanted to thank them all.

"Yesterday a Kiwi guy called up and said `I am very much concerned and very much worried about your daughters and how you are coping'. I am very thankful to all of them.''