KEY POINTS:
A real estate agent accused of kidnapping 5-year-old Xin Xin allegedly wanted $500,000 for her return - and is also accused of spraypainting directions to a ransom drop-off point.
Dequiong Deng, also known as Aaron Deng, has been charged with the five-day kidnap of Xin Xin, in which she was gagged, bound and locked in a second-storey wardrobe of a vacant North Shore house.
Police sources have revealed more details of the case against Deng, including allegations he made his first demand for $500,000 via text message to Xin Xin's family on July 14, the same day that she was snatched.
Deng allegedly continued to text Xin Xin's family over the next few days as he prepared to exchange the girl for the ransom. Police say as part of his plan he spraypainted markings on the side of a motorway, giving directions to a drop-off point.
Xin Xin was rescued on July 18, and police later arrested Deng at his Rothesay Bay house.
The Herald on Sunday understands Deng has told police he was not the masked man who bundled Xin Xin into the back of a station wagon outside her North Shore home.
Instead, he has claimed the 14K triad group was to blame.
Deng, 25, emigrated to New Zealand in 2002 and planned to marry his live-in girlfriend Xuan Wang, a former beauty queen, later this year.
Xuan Wang, also known as Renee Wang, came to New Zealand seven years ago. Like Deng, she graduated with a degree in property management and worked as a sales agent.
A real estate agent for Ray White on the North Shore, Deng is understood to have past dealings with Xin Xin's father, property developer Jian Ma, and had a close relationship with Xin Xin's mother, Jin Zhou, whom he referred to as his "elder-sister".
A police source said Deng was involved in selling property for Xin Xin's parents.
A former colleague of Deng's from Ray White, described him as a "top performer, popular among the Chinese community, with a portfolio of impressive listings".
Xin Xin's kidnapping has polarised the Chinese community, with some on a Chinese website going so far as to support Deng.
Xin Xin's father is facing charges over a West Auckland subdivision. He was property manager at the Riverglade Parkway site, where homes were allegedly built without the necessary council consent.
Xin Xin was playing with her 3-year-old sister and 6-year-old cousin outside her home in Albany when she was abducted just after midday on July 14.
A masked man grabbed Xin Xin, bundled her into a station wagon and drove her to a house a few hundred metres away, where she was bound, gagged and locked in a wardrobe.
Since being rescued from the five-day drama last month, Xin Xin has spoken little and is now living with both her parents at her father's home in Te Atatu Peninsula. She suffers nightmares and remains traumatised, says her aunt Hong Zhou.
Xin Xin's grandmother confirmed her granddaughter's hands were tied behind her back and she had to lie in the wardrobe for five days. Her eyes, mouth and ears were taped.
Deng appeared in the Auckland District Court a fortnight ago charged with possession of a spray can and defacing a motorway overbridge.
