KEY POINTS:
A 25-year-old man was remanded in custody until Friday when he appeared in North Shore District court today charged in connection with the kidnapping of Chinese school girl Xin Xin Ma.
The Chinese real estate agent, who has name suppression, was charged with kidnapping and unlawfully carrying off the five-year-old with intent to hold her for ransom.
Yesterday police said they had not ruled out more arrests in the case.
Xin Xin was found yesterday afternoon in a cupboard in a new but unoccupied home a couple of hundred metres from her Albany home.
She had been missing since Monday when a masked man snatched her from outside her house and threw her in the boot of his silver car.
In court today police prosecutor Sergeant Paul McKenzie argued against name suppression, but was overruled by Justice of the Peace Eddie Stark.
The accused man's lawyer, Simon Lance, asked for name suppression because the man's relations in China had not been told.
He also worked for an Asian/New Zealand company which would have to handle the publicity from the kidnapping.
However, Mr McKenzie told the court the accused man had held the girl for five days and he had ample opportunity to contact relatives.
The child and the family had been named and police wanted the accused man named because other people might want to come forward with further information about the case, he said.
Mr Stark disagreed and said the court would hate to hinder any possible outcome of the trial.
- NZPA
