Three Chinese jailed over suitcase murder
WELLINGTON (AFP) — Three Chinese men were jailed Thursday by a New Zealand court over the kidnap and murder of a fellow language student whose body was found in a suitcase floating in Auckland Harbour.
Cui Xiangxin and Li Zheng, both aged 22, were sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and six months in prison after earlier being found guilty of kidnapping and murdering 19-year-old Wan Biao on April 12 last year.
A third man, Wang Yuxi, also 22, was cleared of murder, but found guilty of kidnapping Wan and jailed for a minimum of three years and nine months.
"All three of you have participated in a chilling crime. It was calculated, callous and cruel," Judge John Priestley said.
"The three of you lived in an unreal world of cyberspace and sloth."
After luring Wan to an Auckland hotel, the three contacted his mother in China demanding a ransom of four million yuan (540,000 US dollars).
But they strangled and knifed him the same night. After a failed attempt to saw his head off, Wan's body was stuffed into a suitcase and thrown into the harbour.
The suitcase was found floating the next day, and the kidnappers rang Wan's mother again, the court was told.
"Your son offended us, he deserved to have this result," they told her.
