Kidnapper's sentence reduced

A district court judge has reduced the jail term of a Chinese kidnapper who held a young woman at gunpoint after taking into account that the offender was being deported after his sentence.

Student Jin Long Zhang, 25, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail in the Auckland District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to six charges, including kidnapping and aggravated robbery.

Zhang's authorisation to stay in New Zealand had ended, so at the end of his sentence he will be deported.

Judge Hobbs said that, though it might seem unfair to deduct Zhang's sentence because he would leave New Zealand straight after his jail term, he would take the deportation factor into account. He reduced his sentence by one year.

"It could be seen as an unnecessary imposition on the taxpayer to have you incarcerated. Obviously, you will never be released into New Zealand society."

In the early hours of February 25 last year, Zhang approached a woman outside a Newmarket karaoke bar, pointed an air pistol at her and forced her to drive off with him in the vehicle.

The victim's friends saw what unfolded and called the police. After a pursuit through Auckland and during which Zhang hit the victim on the head with a firearm, police blocked the car and stopped him. A police dog handler was used to help apprehend Zhang when he became aggressive.

Judge Hobbs said the victim must have been traumatised in an attack he believed was planned. She was no longer in the country.

Zhang, an accounting student, worked for an Auckland Citizens Advice Bureau while carrying out his postgraduate study.