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• Nai Yin Xue murdered his wife in 2007 before abandoning his 3-year-old daughter “Pumpkin” in Melbourne. He then fled the US, but was deported to NZ soon after. 
• In 2009 he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 12 years. 
• Now he’s been denied parole for a sixth time with the board citing concerns about Xue’s truthfulness and lack of explanation for his actions. 

A man who strangled his wife and left her body in the boot of the family car before abandoning his young daughter in a Melbourne train station and fleeing for America, has been denied parole for the sixth time. 

During his hearing late yesterday Nai Yin Xue admitted he lost control when he suspected his wife An An Liu had been having an affair and that he had only been thinking of himself when he left their 3-year-old daughter Qian Xun alone in another country. 

But his admissions weren’t enough to secure his freedom. 

Xue has now been in prison for 17 years, including detainment in custody before his trial, for his wife’s murder in 2007. 

The 27-year-old’s body was found in the boot of their car a few days after the police removed it from outside the couple’s home in Auckland. She died after being strangled with a tie. 

Qian Xun Xie pictured with her mother An An Liu. 

Xue fled to Australia with their daughter, who was dubbed “Pumpkin” because of the Pumpkin Patch branded clothing she was wearing when she was found alone at a busy railway station. 

Xue was eventually arrested in the US after a nationwide manhunt and deported to New Zealand in March 2008 to face murder charges. 

He was caught in Atlanta, Georgia, by a group of residents who recognised his face, chased and caught him and tied him up until police arrived. 

Xue had to be restrained by security guards after being found guilty at the High Court at Auckland in June 2009 and was sentenced the following month to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 12 years. 

He refused to confess to the murder until a parole hearing in 2020 when he finally expressed remorse. 

Nai Yin Xue, at the start of his trial in 2009 at the High Court at Auckland. 

‘Anger, jealously and hurt’ 

At yesterday’s hearing the board tested Xue’s truthfulness and his lack of explanation for why he murdered his wife. 

Xue, wearing a grey T-shirt and flanked by prison and parole staff, barely raised his head as he answered the board’s questions, including that it remained difficult to understand why he had abandoned his daughter. 

Xue said he was only thinking of himself. 

He could offer little more than remorse for what had occurred, and how he had acted out of suspicion his wife had been having an affair and that he lost control. 

He explained through an interpreter that back then, he became angry when there was conflict, and was unable to think clearly or stay calm. 

He said negative feelings of anger, jealousy and hurt occurred because he had been unable to talk about his feelings. 

A psychologist who treated Xue in 2020 said he “liked to be in control” and was something of a perfectionist. 

He replied that was now in the past and after five years he was “happy to say” his way of thinking had changed. 

A $13,000 reward was released for information leading to the arrest of Nai Yin Xue while he was on the run. 

Xue said if confronted with the same situation today, the murder “would not happen”. 

He was asked if that meant the murder happened because he was not in control of the relationship and that things were not perfect. 

Xue said he had learnt from the Bible that he needed to be honest. 

The board noted his strong work ethic in prison and how he enjoyed working in the laundry, but they also voiced concern about his truthfulness. 

They asked about a book he had written in prison called “I was not a Murderer”, to which Xue replied he was “lying at the time” and wrote it before he finally confessed his guilt in 2020. 

The board, convened by Sir Ron Young, spent a short time reaching the decision not to grant him parole, based in part on the lack of approved accommodation. 

It also found Xue’s explanation about the murder and the abandonment of his daughter “unusual and very worrying”. 

He will remain in prison until at least December when the board will reconvene his matter. 

Xue would continue with reintegrative testing opportunities, and for parole to be considered at the next hearing he will need to have confirmed accommodation. 

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at ��һ�ǿ�����. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.