A New Zealand man jailed in China over the death of a Chinese man has been told he faces a longer prison term unless he pays the man's family $90,000 by tomorrow.
Danny Cancian, from Kapiti Coast, was sentenced to five years jail in December. He said he was attacked by a group of men in a south Chinese restaurant, and during the resulting fight, a man was killed.
Cancian was in the country supervising manufacture of his invention, the ShowerBuddy, which helps disabled people shower.
Cancian's wife Amanda told One News her husband's attackers had admitted they were the ones to start the fight.
"It was self-defence," she said.
However the judge ruled Cancian had gone too far and sentenced him to five years in prison.
Now, a new appeal court ruling from China has ordered Cancian will serve a longer term unless he pays the dead man's family $90,000 compensation by tomorrow.
But the Cancian family said it could not afford to pay.
"We've paid a lot of money over to China so far and we're finding it very, very hard to find money," Mrs Cancian said.
She appealed to the public for donations.
"We need help," she said.
Cancian's father, Robert was murdered in a gangland killing 26 years ago.
He died after he was hit on the head several times with a softball bat in his Lower Hutt home in 1983.
And five years ago, Cancian's brother, Tony, fought off two attackers in the family's Lower Hutt home while another man was holding his wife and four daughters captive.
