A man accused of helping his friend stab to death a young student in her car and dump her body in the boot of her abandoned car has been found guilty of murder.
Honglin Yu had denied murdering the 19-year-old woman and stealing her ATM card in May last year.
He was found guilty after the jury deliberated for 3½ hours at the High Court at Auckland.
As the verdicts came in Yu stood motionless in the dock.
Justice Kit Toogood said Kiko's parents, who live in China, would be notified of the decision..
"If it is any comfort to you, I absolutely agree with your verdicts.''
Yesterday, Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins said Yu and his friend Yongxin Li worked as a team when they drove Kiko out to a secluded part of West Auckland before stabbing her to death in her own car.
Kiko Li's body was found riddled with 22 stab wounds in the boot of her abandoned car in Hamilton more than a week later.
Mr Perkins said Yu bought the knife from a supermarket, suggested Kiko as the target and helped his friend Yongxin Li clean the car after the killing.
"They were working together as a team right to the very end,'' Mr Perkins said.
He said Yu actively encouraged and helped Li carry out the killing. Yu has told the court that he and Yongxin Li took Kiko out for a driving lesson but he had no idea that his friend would kill Kiko.
Mr Perkins said the motive for the killing was money but there was also an element of killing for "killing's sake''.
He pointed to a text sent from Yu to Yongxin Li a week before the murder that said: "Oh... I even have the thought of killing people... Who do you find disagreeable? I will help you fix him.''
Mr Perkins said it was that text that got "the ball rolling''.
He referred to the plan to murder Kiko as the "metaphorical train''.
"Not only was he on this metaphorical train, he was driving.''
He said Yu and Li were "incompetent'' in their planning of the murder. They left bloodied items of clothing at home, allowed themselves to be filmed on CCTV cameras buying the knife at a supermarket and organised the crime using text messages.
"But trumping all of that is the fact they didn't check her pin number or confirm it. She died for absolutely nothing.''
Defence counsel Mark Edgar said his client had suggested Kiko as a target but he immediately tried to put his friend off carrying out the attack.
He referred to text messages between Yu and Yongxin Li, one of which said: "**** This is not very good, is it? I kind of can't harden my heart...''
Another text said: "Think this way. For this little amount of money, she loses her life. Really not worth it, is it ... wait and see''.
He said Yu was having problems with his girlfriend at the time and had sent a number of texts to her and his friends asking for advice.
"It affected his thoughts and feelings and even his peripheral judgement.''
Mr Edgar also questioned the Crown's motive of money being behind the killing. He pointed out that Li paid a friend $1000 to drive Kiko's car with her body in the boot to Hamilton more than a week after the killing.
"He's a young man. He's made some foolish decisions as he has told you in the witness box. But there's a difference between foolish unwise decisions and being consigned to a murderous plan.''
Yu will be sentenced next month.
