Auckland cabbie Hiren Mohini's murder suspect likely to stand trial in China

Auckland, Aug 23(ANI): The 23-year-old alleged killer of Indian-origin taxi driver Hiren Mohini is likely to stand trial in China later this year.

Mohini was killed in a frenzied knife attack on January 31, and police believe that his killer was his last passenger, who attacked him to avoid paying a 15.20-dollar fare.

The murder suspect, named in Auckland District Court files as Zhen Xiao, was located and detained by Chinese authorities in Shanghai in June.hough New Zealand and China have no extradition treaty between them, the two countries have agreed that Xiao should stand trial in China after Auckland police were given a verbal assurance that a death penalty would not apply.

Detective Senior Sergeant Hywel Jones, officer in charge of the homicide investigation, said that Xiao was likely to be tried by a panel of judges, and not a jury.

He stressed that the New Zealand police were working through the logistics of evidence and witnesses.

"We have translated a reasonable amount of documents into Mandarin for use and it is just a question of the Chinese judiciary deciding what they want and whether or not they want witnesses to go there or not," Stuff.co.nz quoted Jones, as saying.

He further said that as officer in charge of the inquiry he would probably attend the hearing, but it was not known if Mohini's family would travel to China. (ANI)