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Xue pleads not guilty to wife's murder

By New Zealand correspondent Kerri Ritchie

Posted September 4, 2008 14:23:00
Updated September 4, 2008 15:45:00

Michael Xue has pleaded not guilty.

Michael Xue has pleaded not guilty. (Getty Images: Phil Walter)

The father of the three-year-old girl abandoned on a platform at Melbourne's Spencer Street Station a year ago has pleaded not guilty to killing his wife.

Michael Xue has been ordered to stand trial for the murder of Anan Liu, whose body was found in Auckland in the boot of the family's car.

Throughout the two-day hearing, a Chinese interpreter has translated court proceedings to Xue.

But when he was asked this afternoon how he would like to plead to the murder of his wife, he answered in English, "I am not guilty, I am innocent".

Later he turned around and smiled to the public gallery.

Earlier Xue cried as a pathologist described Anan Liu's injuries.

The doctor said a tie was knotted around her throat.

A woman who worked in the same building as Xue gave evidence that he told her he bought an axe because he was angry his wife had left him.

She also said he was upset that his wife did not want to have another baby.

Xue will reappear in court in Auckland next month where a date will be set for his trial.

Tags: law-crime-and-justice, crime, courts-and-trials, murder-and-manslaughter, new-zealand

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