Xue stopped by police hours after killing - Crown

A police officer has told of stopping Nai Yin Xue for erratic driving a few hours after the Crown says he strangled his wife.

Terence Logan said he saw Xue twice swerve suddenly on Auckland's Southwestern Motorway in the early hours of September 12, 2007.

Xue, 55, the owner-publisher of the Chinese Times in 2007, is on trial in the High Court in Auckland charged with murdering his 27-year-old wife An An Liu.

Ms Liu's body was found in the boot of Xue's Chinese Times vehicle on September 19, 2007.

The Crown said Xue strangled Ms Liu on the evening of September 11, flew to Melbourne two days later with his daughter Qian Xun, where he abandoned the little girl at a train station before flying to the United States.

Mr Logan told the court today that he was heading southeast on the Southwestern Motorway when he noticed a car suddenly serve twice, though remaining within its lane.

He said he pulled the car over, thinking the driver might be drunk, and it pulled over in Manukau City a short time later.

Mr Logan said the car had Chinese Times writing on it. An examination of the driver's licence established the driver was Xue.

"He said he was on his way home and was tired," Mr Logan said. "I gave him a lecture on driving when tired ... and told him to go directly home and get some sleep."

Mr Logan said Xue then headed towards the motorway and headed north towards his home in Mt Roskill.

Later, an account manager for Horton Media told of being surprised when Xue didn't send the Chinese Times for printing on September 13, 2007.

Sanjit Dutta said he regularly kept in contact with Xue, who he knew as Pangu, about printing the publication weekly and collecting payments from him.

He said he spoke to Xue by phone on September 10 and 12 to arrange to collect money, which was going to happen on September 17, but was surprised no publication came through on September 13.

"He said no, we are not printing. He said it was a Chinese holiday," Mr Dutta said.

"I asked if he was printing next week, he said yes."

Mr Dutta said he tried to get hold of Xue on September 14 but couldn't and he never spoke to him again.

The trial before Justice Hugh Williams and an all-women jury is into its second of a scheduled three weeks.

- NZPA