KEY POINTS:
Two men convicted of the murder of a fellow Chinese student, whose body was dumped at sea in a suitcase, were today jailed for a minimum of 18-1/2 years for what the judge described as a chilling and callous crime.
Cui Xiangxin and Li Zheng, both 22, were
found guilty by a jury in October of kidnapping and murdering 19-year-old Wan Biao in April of last year.
In the High Court at Auckland, Justice John Priestley sentenced the pair to nine years in prison on the kidnapping count, the term to be concurrent with their sentence for murder.
A third man, Wang Yuxi, also 22, who was found not guilty of murder but guilty of kidnapping Mr Wan, was jailed for three years and nine months.
Justice Priestley agreed to Wang's offer of $25,000 in amends to Mr Wan's family, saying he accepted that it was not an attempt to buy a reduction in sentence, but was part of Chinese culture.
He did not pursue the issue of reparation by Cui and Li, saying it would be futile.
Cui's legal costs had exhausted his family's resources and Li's family had disowned him.
Summarising the facts of the case, Justice Priestley said Cui and Li were the primary offenders and greed was the reason they hatched their kidnap plan.
On the day before Good Friday, they lured Mr Wan to a central Auckland hotel apartment where they drugged and bound him and made a ransom demand to his parents in China.
They then strangled their victim to death to protect their identity and disposed of the semi-decapitated body in a suitcase in the Waitemata Harbour.
The suitcase was discovered on Good Friday by two occupants of a yacht.
Apart from the body, items inside the suitcase included two saws and Cui's passport.
Justice Priestley described Cui and Li's actions as cold, calculating and cruel.
After Mr Wan was killed, Cui had gone to Sydney, where he made another call to the victim's family, telling his mother: "Your son offended us, he deserves to have this result."
Wang had booked the hotel apartment after having been under pressure to allow his own apartment to be used for the kidnap.
Justice Priestley described Wang's actions as "cowardly" in his failing to stand up to Cui and Li.
He said the three shared characteristics in coming from backgrounds that would be regarded as privileged in China.
They had come to New Zealand to study, but fell into cyber "sloth", spending much of their time playing computer games and watching DVDs.
The judge accepted the three were isolated from their families, with little social support or parental supervision.
But there were many Chinese students in a similar situation in New Zealand who were leading enriching lives.
Inquiry head Detective Inspector Bernie Hollewand, who spoke to Mr Wan's parents in China, said they expressed no happiness at the sentences handed down in the High Court at Auckland.
"That's a measure of where they're at in dealing with their grief," he said.
Mr Hollewand said the $25,000 in amends that Wang had offered to pay Mr Wan's parents was a long way short of the economic impact of their only son's death.
"But they understand the [Chinese] cultural context of it and I think they will accept the money."
He described the case as "one of the most chilling crimes" he had been involved in investigating.
However, he believed publicity over Mr Wan's killing had led to a decrease in incidents of kidnapping for gain in Auckland, where half of such offences in New Zealand occurred.
The victim impact report presented at sentencing indicated the physical and emotional toll Mr Wan's murder had had on his parents.
His mother was diagnosed with high blood pressure and stress brought on by her son's death and had been unable to sleep.
His father was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure, neither of which ran in the family.
They said all the work they had put into their son's future was now meaningless.
Because they were unwell, they were unable to care for Mr Wan's 85-year-old grandfather, who had had to be admitted into a rest home.
- NZPA