Kiko murder accused back in court

Two Asian men accused of murdering 18-year-old Chinese student Jiayi Li and a third man charged with being an accomplice were back in Auckland District court today.

Yongxin Li, 18, and Honglin Yu, 20, are jointly charged with her murder and aggravated robbery involving attempting to use her eftpos card.

Junzhou Xhang is charged with being an accessory after the fact to the murder.

All three were remanded in custody until September 20.

Judge Anne Kiernan told media film crews that they were not to film the accused, although they had previously been given permission to, because the case had been the subject of speculative reports in the Chinese media in New Zealand.

Ms Li's body was found in the boot of her car in Hamilton on June 2 but police said she may have been killed within a day or two of her disappearance on May 19.

Ms Li, also known as Kiko, was doing a business course in Auckland.

- NZPA