Court hearing reveals details of 5-year-old's kidnap ordeal

Deqjong Deng was sentenced to 9 years. Photo / Greg Bowker

Barricaded in a small walk-in wardrobe, 5-year-old kidnap victim Cina Ma was bound, and had her mouth taped shut to block the sound of her crying.

Deqiong Deng, a 26-year-old real estate agent, left her there alone with a small bucket for a toilet. He gave her bread and water and stopped her escaping by blocking the door with boxes of tiles.

For the last two days she was in captivity Cina's wrists and ankles were bound with masking tape. Tape was also wrapped around her face when she was left alone.

Deng visited her once or twice a day, bringing bread and water or a takeaway meal. She was allowed to use the toilet and he brought two soft toys.

He told Cina he would hurt her if she made any noise.

Yesterday Deng was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland to nine years in jail. He must serve a minimum non-parole period of 5 years.

Cina's father, Mark Ma, said that sentence wasn't long enough for what his daughter went through.

"I feel it's not hard enough on a person who has done this crime to a young daughter," he said. "I was expecting more than nine years. I was a little bit disappointed today."

During the sentencing the court was told that the day Cina was snatched broke her mother's heart.

She felt "anger and numbness" that as a mother she was "helpless to protect her daughter".

Mr Ma said the family didn't know Deng and didn't know why they were targeted. His whole family had changed after the kidnapping, and they had begun a new life away from New Zealand.

Justice Judith Potter said Cina's ordeal must have been terrifying.

The kidnapping was a cowardly and cruel act that had been carefully planned.

Initially Deng told police the kidnapping was linked to a group of Asian men he referred to as "24K" but later said he acted alone and wasn't gang related.

The judge said Deng had to be held accountable to deter others from committing a crime becoming too prevalent in New Zealand.

"It may be that Mr Deng was obsessed by his financial situation but he did not give a single thought to the impact of his crime," she said.

Cina's ordeal began on Monday, July 14, last year about 12.30pm when she was playing with her 3-year-old sister and 6-year-old cousin outside her home in the Albany subdivision of Harrowglen.

Deng was watching the children playing from a rented station wagon which he had parked next to the Ma home.

He rented the car using the false driver's licence of a man deported from New Zealand two years earlier. The car's registration plates were replaced with ones stolen from Ponsonby a week earlier.

Deng waited for Cina to be separated from her playmates, then slipped on a balaclava and sprinted after her.

He grabbed Cina and carried her to the car.

As her cousin called for adults to help, Cina was driven a few hundred metres to an empty house in Keating Rise and put in the wardrobe.

Deng texted ransom demands to Cina's mother on a cellphone he had brought for the purpose.

Over the four days Cina was in captivity he texted numerous times, demanding $500,000.

He spray painted markings on the Northern Motorway at the spot he wanted the ransom to be left.

He told the family they would never see her alive again unless the ransom was paid.

At about 3.15pm on July 18 police found Cina trapped in the wardrobe, her wrists and ankles tied.

Police took her to Starship hospital, where doctors treated her for extreme dehydration. She also had bruising and tape rash on her face and wrists.

Cina was given counselling for the trauma she had endured. She has been held back a year at school and has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

She has developed a fear of the dark and has trouble sleeping, but doctors say she has made remarkable progress.