Xue afraid wife would leave him

Nai Yin Xue (centre) with Qian Xun (L) and An An Liu. Photo / Supplied

Violent, jealous and resentful, what finally drove Nai Yin Xue to murder was the fear that his wife would leave him for another man.

The 55-year-old martial arts expert may finally have decided that if he couldn't have his wife then no man could. At least once before she had been reduced to her knees, begging for her life, after he punched her in the head and threatened her with a knife.

While no evidence exists to say she had a lover, computer messages showed she had desires for a younger man that made her feel "ferocious like a wolf", and she appeared to have flirted with men on dating websites.

She fled to Wellington but he followed her there, creeping through the house to look for her. A friend of Xue's revealed he had told her that if he found his wife and she refused to come home with him he would have killed her with an axe.

Xue resented the fact she had given birth to a girl because he desperately wanted a boy. He was 25 years older than her, which she seemed to be embarrassed about, and she told at least one person the only reason they married was so she could stay in New Zealand.

No one, apart from Xue and An An Liu, will really know what caused him to snap on September 11, 2007, wrapping a tie with a knot around her neck and holding it there long enough for her to pass out, then die.

The day before the murder Xue told a friend of his suspicions that she no longer wanted to live with him and that she was sleeping with a man she met in Wellington, Weihong Song. Xue spoke darkly of "no one cheating on me", and was not happy.

But even the Crown says Xue probably didn't have murder on his mind the day before the killing, pointing to the fact he hired a new employee that day.

That night, as their tenants were out walking and as she was probably preparing for bed, Xue took a knotted tie and wrapped it around her neck.

Afterwards Liu's body had to have been bundled into the boot of the car. At 12.27am the next day, he visited an ASB vault and soon after was stopped by police, when his bad driving caught the eye of a patrol car on the motorway.

When an officer pulled him over, Xue lied to him, saying he was tired after work and said he was heading home.

In the two days that followed Xue put his escape plan into action.

He left a note telling the tenants he and Qian were going to Wellington to pick up Liu, and tickets were booked to Melbourne.

He was brazen enough to go and pick up his passport from police, no sign of panic because he knew he had time.

The only clue to what had occurred was that Liu was not answering her mother's computer messages.

When Xiaoping Liu rang Xue, worried, he lied, saying she was in Wellington and that they were back together.,

Madame Liu asked where Qian was. If his reply had been that she was with him, she would have called police because she knew there was no way her daughter would have left Qian with him.

"He cheated and said she took Qian with her," Madame Liu said, through a translator.

Despite the defence's attempts to blame someone else for the murder, suggesting it happened during a sex game gone wrong, Perkins told the all-female jurors to reject the assertion as a last-ditch, desperate attempt.

"The killer of An An Liu," he said pointing to Xue, "is sitting right here in your company."