Young Chinese student tells of kidnapping ordeal in Auckland

By PATRICK GOWER

The ransom demand was $1 million. Shou's mother, speaking on the phone from China, was willing to pay.

The 22-year-old student had been snatched from outside an Auckland nightclub, then beaten, blindfolded and bundled into a car boot.

He was tied up with duct tape and threatened, a large knife held against his cheek.

One of his kidnappers, also Chinese, rang his family then held the phone to Shou's ear. His mother wanted to pay the ransom.

Shou, not his real name, told the Weekend Herald his family - "average" businesspeople - could have come up with the money.

But Shou did not want them to pay. He only told the kidnapper he would get the money to "buy time".

"I felt like they would kill me. I didn't think they would let me go."

Shou eventually managed a dramatic escape while his guard was on the toilet, and unlike many victims of the extortion rackets, went to the police.

In speaking to the Weekend Herald through an interpreter this week, he provided a rare insight into the ugly underworld of Asian student life and those who prey upon them.

Shou's ordeal began after he had been partying at the Margaritas nightclub last November with hundreds of other Asian students.

But unknown to him the kidnap ringleader - still unidentified - was following him around the bar. Outside, three Maori men - who would be paid $400 each for their services - were told by cellphone of his movements.

When Shou went outside about 2am, the men grabbed him from behind and dragged him into their car as he struggled and called for help. They put a beanie over his head and drove him to West Auckland.

As arranged, the trio handed him over to the Chinese guard, who tied his hands and feet, put tape over his eyes and head, then shoved him in the boot of his car.

Shou was taken to the guard's Massey address and kept in a bedroom while the ransom demands were made from his own cellphone.

Although initially thinking he had no hope, Shou's fears waned the longer he was held because the guard "didn't seem very smart".

After eight hours, his guard went to the toilet and Shou untied himself. With duct tape still on his head, he ran out on to the street, telling an old lady he had been kidnapped. As she told him to call police, the guard started to give chase along the road in his car, driving up on to the kerb and trying to ram Shou.

"He was trying to kill me."

The chase went on into a nearby service station, where Shou was hit by the bonnet.

He grabbed a mechanic's wrench. "I was ready to smash him. If I fought him, it would have been legal."

The Maori trio and the Chinese guard have admitted their roles in the crime, but the ringleader remains at large.

Shou said he backed the New Zealand police "100 per cent".

Although he would always deal with an extortion attempt, he said many other students would not because they were scared or "had something to hide".

He considered leaving New Zealand after the kidnapping, but is now in his third year here and studying English at an Auckland institute.

"I tend to look around behind my back a bit more."