Kidnap victim's torment

An East Auckland woman remains traumatised by her kidnap at gunpoint from her Howick home a fortnight ago, despite the capture of the final two suspects.

The two men were arrested in Gisborne yesterday in connection with the taking of Qing (Kelly) Zhao this month.


Changsong Li, 32, and Wanzhe Gui, 29, restaurant manager, were remanded in custody overnight.

They are expected back in the Gisborne District Court today, after a brief appearance in front of JPs yesterday. A duty solicitor said the pair were expected to make a number of applications.

Inquiry head Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Neil Grimstone said the men were picked up at a Gisborne service station, possibly in the same vehicle used in the kidnapping. Police had received information in Auckland that the pair might have been in the Gisborne area, but Mr Grimstone would not say where the information had come from.

Police are investigating whether the two men were being sheltered by others in Gisborne, though Mr Grimstone said the reason they were there was simple enough.

"They were trying to put as much distance between themselves and South Auckland CIB as they could."

The two men appeared in the Gisborne District Court officially charged with kidnapping, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and commission of a crime with a firearm.

A spokesman for Mrs Zhao's family said that despite the arrests, she had been seeing a doctor for sleeping trouble and was not yet ready to return home.

"She feels very upset. Although she had no physical hurt, she got emotionally hurt, so she can't sleep very well in the evenings.

"She worries."

The spokesman, who has been in touch with Mrs Zhao, 40, and her husband "two or three times a week" since the kidnapping, said the couple had felt confident police would eventually find the suspects.

But Mrs Zhao and her husband were staying in a "safe place" for the time being.

"She feels she had no preparation for a disaster like this, so she can't recover fully."

She and her husband would return to their Bleakhouse Rd property once the security system had been beefed up, the spokesman said.

Mr Grimstone said he had told the family of the men's arrest yesterday, and their relief was palpable. "They will now put their lives back together."

Two other alleged kidnappers are already in custody, and all four men are expected to reappear in the Manukau District Court on March 31.