Xiao went on to claim the argument escalated after he disputed the fare, and that he had reached for a knife he was carrying because Mr Mohini was much bigger than him and he felt intimidated.
His claim of self-defence appears to be contradicted by evidence Mr Mohini was knifed while driving, that the attack was frenzied and the fact that he died in his car seat.
"It's impossible that Hiren would have done anything like that," Mrs Mohini says of Xiao's claim. "That's not him. That's not how he was. I don't believe it."
She says it didn't make sense that her husband would complain about Asians taking jobs because, as an Indian, he too was Asian.
He had a policy of not chasing fare absconders, because it wasn't worth the risk and because of his Karma-based Hindu religious beliefs. Occasionally, he'd tell her about a passenger who'd done a runner, how he'd kissed the money goodbye.
It doesn't help her to recall that Xiao, whom he picked up about 1am, was to have been Mr Mohini's last fare for the night. He'd planned to finish an hour or so earlier so he could be fresh to take the family to a community picnic the next day.
While Mr Mohini's mother, Vasantiben, made sweet Indian tea, Falguni sat at the dinner table of their tidy Mt Roskill house with a box of tissues trying to explain the loss and the toll.
He was so many things beyond news depictions of the taxi driver who was murdered. He was the father who routinely took his delighted daughters Yashvi, 7, and Hetvi, 5, for a drive in the flash taxi before setting off to work about 3pm; the man who lived for his family and friends; who was the family's only breadwinner and a person who had faith in the goodness of New Zealand.
He was the hub, she says. "Every one had a special relationship with him." When friends visited, he would adjust his work schedule to spend time with them.
The Mohinis got together in Mumbai, India, in 2001 in an arranged marriage. Falguni says she couldn't have been happier with her husband. Though she didn't personally know him, their families knew one another. "I knew he would be a good man."
She wasn't wrong, she laughs. "I love him!"
"He was gentle, caring, loving and fun-loving. He would always make people smile."
New Zealand soon loomed large in their plans for the future. A cousin and a friend of Mr Mohini lived in Auckland. "They told us, 'It's a good country. You can make a life here'."
They emigrated in 2003 and Mr Mohini's mother followed three years later. Their daughters were born in Auckland Hospital. Life was progressing as hoped.
Now everyone is struggling. The older daughter, especially, needs reassuring that the same thing won't happen to Mum.
"We tell them God is looking after Dad, that Mum and Grandmum will be there, always, to look after them."
Mrs Mohini says she never contemplated leaving after Hiren's murder and speaks of the love and support they have been shown. "We are thankful for that. This country has helped us a lot. We can't walk away."
Fear is part of the legacy of her husband's murder but she understands it could have happened anywhere and it hasn't changed her view of New Zealand. "Every country has good and bad," she says. Besides, this is where her husband wanted to raise their family. "Hiren was always optimistic that life in New Zealand would be good."
The only question she has is the same one she has had since he died. "I'll always wonder why."
Given the killer's statement in court, she suspects she'll never truly know. A date has yet to be set to deliver a verdict and possible sentence.
