KEY POINTS:
A man accused of murdering his wife before fleeing to Australia and dumping his three-year-old daughter at a Melbourne railway station may have to represent himself in court if he does not get bail this week, his current lawyer says.
Chris Comeskey was speaking outside the High Court
in Auckland today after Nai Yin Xue, 55, had his bail application adjourned until Thursday.
The adjournment was to allow crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb to read an affidavit presented by Mr Comeskey to the court containing all the correspondence between defence and Legal Services.
An An Liu's body was found in the boot of the family car outside the couple's home in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill in September last year, four days after Xue allegedly abandoned his daughter, Qian Xun Xue, in Melbourne.
He then flew to America, but was caught and extradited after an international police alert.
"This is just an absolutely disgusting situation for my client to be in," Mr Comeskey told NZPA.
"He's been extradited from the US. He consented to that, and he's been brought back. He's been indicted for the most serious offence on our statute books and in the past 10 months he has not been granted legal aid to pay for his defence.
"Legal Services haven't paid one cent.
"A significant amount of money has now built up in my chambers and we're no longer prepared to keep carrying that forward. It's not our obligation, it's a state obligation," Mr Comeskey said.
Xue is due to stand trial next year, charged with murdering his 27-year-old wife in Auckland in September last year.
He wants bail so he can work and pay Mr Comeskey.
"If his bail application fails, he has no other avenues which to pay, and no funding available for his trial," Mr Comeskey said.
"I don't think any Chinese representation groups in New Zealand would make funding available either.
"He always has the option to represent himself. It would be fair for him to ask for the proceedings to be conducted completely in his native tongue. It means a six week trial would probably take six years, which would be a huge expense."
He explained it was not possible to see Xue with an interpreter in prison because there was no funding available.
"We stumble through these meetings with a European lawyer from my chambers who speaks Chinese. This morning, the court interpreter here offered to do it for free. That's just disgraceful," Mr Comeskey said.
Legal aid applications were generally determined within 14 days. Xue's trial date of June 2 was set in October.
- NZPA
