4 Jun 2010

Third arrest over Chinese student's death

6:07 am on 4 June 2010

Auckland detectives have arrested a third man in relation to the killing of a Chinese student whose body was found in the boot of her stolen car.

The body of Jiayi Li, 18, also known as Kiko, was discovered in Hamilton on Tuesday in her red Toyota Altezza, about two weeks after she disappeared.

She was last seen alive dropping someone off in the Auckland suburb of Kingsland on 19 May.

Two Chinese men, aged 18 and 20, have previously been charged with her murder and aggravated robbery and will reappear in court later this month.

Police arrested another man, 19, on Wednesday night, charging him with being an accessory after the fact of murder.

He will appear in Auckland District Court on Friday.

Student safety under scrutiny

Some members of the Auckland Chinese community say the death is proof that not enough is being done to ensure the safety of international students.

Ms Li was a student at a learning institute in central Auckland.

Auckland University Professor of Chinese Manying Ip says her death will put parents off sending their children to this country.

Dr Ip says tertiary institutions are happy to take students' money, but are not providing enough pastoral care.

But the Education New Zealand Trust, which promotes the education industry, says New Zealand has some of the world's best pastoral care standards.