Murdered student's stepmother 'washing her face with tears'

Jiayi Li, known to her friends as Kiko, was found in the boot of her car in Hamilton in June last year. Photo / supplied

The stepmother of a girl murdered while studying in New Zealand has been "washing her face with tears" for the past year.

Jiayi Li, known to her friends as Kiko, had come to New Zealand to study business. She was found stabbed to death in the boot of her car in Hamilton on June 2 last year.

Yesterday, her murderer, Yongxin Li, was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 16 years.

He was also sentenced to seven years - to be served concurrently - for aggravated robbery.

Kiko's father, Chang Kui Li, had his victim impact statement read to the court yesterday by a Crown prosecutor.

"Jiayi Li's mother has been washing her face with tears every day."

In his statement, he said that his daughter had been "taken away by a cruel act" and he had been unable to concentrate on his business as a property developer. "The loss of my daughter has plunged my life to the bottom."

Kiko's stepmother, Yan Wang, described the murder as "like thunder from a blue sky".

"My daughter, I call out a thousand times, I will never hear your answer."

She said her 8-year-old son, Jia Han Li, was close to Kiko but was now introverted.

Li hung his head while the statements were read in court.

Police say that after Kiko was murdered near Piha, Li stole her eftpos card and was captured on CCTV trying to withdraw money.

When police caught up to him, he had a one-way ticket to China booked.

Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins told the court that Yongxin Li had planned the murder over days.

He said Li showed "enthusiasm" for the killing and watched movies to get pointers.

Mr Perkins said Kiko was stabbed 22 times in her car before her body was put in the boot and driven to Hamilton.