Mei Fan's boyfriend: Preston 'is the beast from the Bible himself'

Michael Preston was today jailed for life. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It's a classic case of beautiful versus evil.

Mei Fan's boyfriend Tani Hoyhtya smiles as he remembers the woman he loved.

"She was a beautiful lady with a wonderful laugh and a big heart. She always wanted to give more to others rather than receive herself.

"This is what I liked about her."

But Mr Hoyhtya's eyes narrow when he talks about her estranged husband, Michael Preston, her killer. He was today jailed for life and Mr Hoyhtya said he was pure "evil".

"He's a psychopath. I've studied a little and he ticks all the boxes."

Mei Fan was found dead in November 2013. Photo / Supplied

Speaking to NZME after the sentencing in the High Court at Wellington today, Mr Hoyhtya was satisfied with the 19-year minimum term Preston must serve for murdering Ms Fan in her Miramar home in November 2013.

Preston, although he never admitted it, was found guilty by a jury of stabbing her 38 times, leaving a knife embedded in her neck.

Her body was found days later after Mr Hoyhtya, then living in Vietnam, raised the alarm when he hadn't heard from her in days. She wasn't answering texts and was ignoring her social media accounts.

Mr Hoyhtya met Ms Fan in China in 2011. Preston was living over there with her but he'd moved back to New Zealand by then, taking their children with him.

Ms Fan followed, to be close to the kids, and Mr Hoyhtya took a job in Vietnam at the United Nations. But he and Ms Fan had big plans. He was going to ask her to marry him and they were planning to settle in New Zealand.

They never got the chance.

After Ms Fan died Mr Hoyhtya did move here, getting a forestry job in Rotorua. But he finishes that on Friday and will return home to Finland soon.

"This country holds nothing for me because I don't have the woman I love. That was the primary reason I wanted to come here. I've not been happy here.

"I've not been able to make this my home. My family and friends are mainly in Finland. Here, I only have work and it is not enough to just have work."

Ms Fan would often talk to Mr Hoyhtya about Preston and everything he was doing to her. She'd taken protection orders out against him but the pair would often be in contact, sometimes intimate contact. Usually though, they would argue about their children's custody arrangements and Preston would threaten to have Ms Fan deported.

After Ms Fan told Preston about her new love, Preston emailed Mr Hoyhtya's work, trying to derail his career. Preston would also call him a "beast from the Bible" because of his 6/6/66 date of birth.

"It's totally insane," Mr Hoyhtya said.

"He presents, in my opinion, pure evil. He's the beast from the Bible himself. I believe so. How can anybody do such horrible things like he's done?"

Mr Hoyhtya gave evidence at Preston's trial. He said he was upset that he was asked if he'd killed Ms Fan.

It was impossible, he said, as he was in Hanoi at the time.

"I was not even in the country. This was just more insult.

"Everybody, not only me, but all Mei's friends and family who cared about her and loved her and [Preston] has been blaming them all," Mr Hoyhtya said of Preston's various theories on who killed Ms Fan.

While he thanked the police for their work in brining Preston to justice, Mr Hoyhtya was unhappy he had to wait longer than two years for the court process to conclude, and that he wasn't allowed to speak his mind during that time because it could jeopardise Preston's right to a fair trial.

He said that wasn't consistent with the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Mr Hoyhtya was also unhappy court rules meant his victim impact statement, read to Justice Joe Williams, was vetted and some sections removed.

"Even after two years, one month and eight days, I'm not allowed to say what is the true impact on me."

Mr Hoyhtya is not sure if Ms Fan has been buried yet in a proper plot, saying such arrangements were in the hands of her family.

He was, however, planning on planting a rose or tree with a plaque of remembrance, hopefully in the Botanic Gardens Ms Fan loved.

Preston, 60, was also found guilty of beaching a protection order.

Ms Fan was 37.

Preston was a 'strong suspect from the word go'

Detective Senior Sergeant John van den Heuvel told Newstalk ZB today Preston was a "strong suspect from the word go".

He said he thought Preston believed he'd get away with it.

"There is no doubt that there was a degree of planning in this crime on his behalf and he took steps to cover his tracks and avoid going to court."

Those steps included using gloves and possibly a disguise on the day he killed Ms Fan.

Preston was arrested five months later. One of the threads that undid him was his explanation about his whereabouts, which was false.

"That rung alarm bells for us. The investigation uncovered CCTV that showed he wasn't being up front with us and ultimately there was some forensic evidence in relation to DNA on the knife and also we found traces -- very minute traces -- of her blood."

Mr van den Heuvel said Ms Fan's family in China were satisfied with both the guilty verdicts and the sentencing.

"Their lives will never return to what it was before. They will take some sense of relief from this."