KEY POINTS:
If there's one evil that crosses all cultures, it's the violence of a rejected husband. As the saga about abandoned 3-year-old Qian Xun Xue and her slaughtered mother unfolded this week, we saw yet again the male attitude, "If I can't have the bitch, no one else will".
Friends of the girl's father, Nai Yin Xue, told media he was depressed because his wife, An An Liu, didn't love him any more and had tried to leave him. Sadly, statistics show that women are in more danger when they leave violent husbands or partners than if they stay to be beaten.
Why didn't these "friends" tell police Xue was talking about killing his wife, especially since he had a conviction for violence against this woman?
I'll bet Xue checked and compared New Zealand and Australia's extradition laws before he disappeared. Australian authorities have already confirmed that abandoning a child in that country is not an extraditable offence.
Under New Zealand's Extradition Act, the barrier is much lower than Australia's. The accused need only be charged with an offence carrying a sentence of no less than 12 months' imprisonment.
Murder is extraditable, of course, but how to find the suspect now? We had our chance when he was convicted of assault this year after breaching a protection order.
This case has interesting legal complications. If Qian Xun was dumped in New Zealand before her father fled, he could have been charged under Section 154 of the Crimes Act, Abandoning Child Under 6, an offence which carries a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment.
But by leaving her in Australia, as a New Zealand citizen he has not committed a crime.
Then again, what was his intent before he flew out of Auckland? Did the daughter's ticket only go as far as Australia, in which case, could it not be argued he intended to dump her before he left New Zealand?
The added security for Xue's getaway was to leave his wee girl where no one knew her, and would not be recognised until her photo-graph was broadcast. By that time, this evil father was thousands of miles away in the United States.
Meanwhile, the body of his young wife, An An, who apparently married him to be granted permanent residency, has been found stuffed in the boot of his car.
National MP Pansy Wong, who met Xue, says he was well known in the Chinese community, but had financial problems.
Not too poor, however, to pay around $6000 for his tickets. Not too glum, either, to prevent the ruthless planning of a particularly callous act.
Internationally, how does this make us look? A New Zealand father - whose business is not going well, whose attitude to marriage is to beat a woman to the extent that, according to one caller to Chinese talkback radio, she almost died - escapes his troubles by discarding his child in a foreign country as if she were nothing more than excess baggage. Walk away and don't look back.
Why do we allow these crooks to stay in this country? Xue was convicted for assault on his wife. If he'd been ousted back to China, An An might still be alive, and the wee daughter she adored would have a totally different life.
Instead, it looks like innocent little "Pumpkin" will be the one going back to China.
We have more than enough rapists, murderers, child-abusers and wife-beaters in this country, born here, and whom we have no choice but to keep.
Nonetheless, we insist on welcoming more scum, like refugee Mohyadin Farah, who served time in jail in his native Kenya, and has racked up serious convictions since he was welcomed here. Or Abdirashid Siyaad Hirsi, another refugee granted residency status, described as a violent criminal who attacks women, back in jail this week after attacking a woman with his wheelchair.
The UN Convention on the Status of Refugees specifically states a refugee can be expelled if convicted of a serious crime, but we ignore that because we're "tolerant".
No doubt I'll be called racist, and for all I care anyone can report me to the Press Council again, but I'm going to say this because I know many New Zealanders who weren't born here, but who love this country, agree with me.
Isn't it about time we brought in legislation to the effect that any migrants - not just refugees - who choose to become citizens of New Zealand are automatically kicked out if they're convicted of a criminal offence within a specified time of gaining residency?
How many more women and children, including the innocent ones whom we welcome to this country, will be killed or damaged before we start discriminating against those who refuse to obey the law?
