The lawyer for murder accused Nai Yin Xue says his client is pleased to be in New Zealand after five months on the run in the United States.
Xue (53) yesterday appeared briefly in the Auckland District Court charged with the murder of his wife, An An Liu, in September last year.
His appearance came about five hours after he returned to New Zealand under heavy restraint on a 20-hour flight from Atlanta, Georgia.
Lawyer Chris Comeskey said Xue was not unhappy with his treatment by US authorities since his arrest in late February.
He said Xue was tired but in reasonable shape.
‘‘That hasn't been the most comfortable of journeys - he hasn't been able to spread out. There has been some measure of restraint,'' Mr Comeskey said.
‘‘He's fine. You saw him in the dock. He's certainly not malnourished or anything. He is happy to be back, I can tell you that.''
Mr Comeskey said he did not anticipate Xue would apply for bail anytime soon, ‘‘but of course it is one of the things a responsible counsel has to turn their minds to''.
Xue became the centre of an international manhunt after his daughter, Qian Xun (3), was found abandoned at a Melbourne railway station on September 15 last year.
Four days later, the body of An An Liu was found inside the boot of one of his cars outside their home in Keystone Ave in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill. Police believe she was killed between September 11 and 13.
Xue fled to Los Angeles and was on the run until February 28, when he was captured in Chamblee, a town on the northeast outskirts of Atlanta, by six Chinese Americans who recognised him from a newspaper photo. He had been featured on the television show America's Most Wanted.
The captured man initially denied being Xue, but his NZ driver's licence gave him away. He was deported from the US for overstaying his three-month visa and arrived at Auckland International Airport about 7.15am yesterday, when he was handed over to NZ police.
Showing little emotion, Xue made his first public appearance in a courtroom packed with Australian and NZ media. Judge Eddie Paul remanded him in custody to reappear in the Auckland District Court on March 19.
Mr Comeskey said in the two hours he spoke with Xue before his court appearance they did not discuss defending the charge.
‘‘I haven't got into the nitty gritty of what his precise instructions might be . . . but I would expect that that would take some form . . . during the course of this adjournment.''
A charge of unlawfully taking Qian Xun away from her mother to Melbourne was dropped yesterday.
‘‘There are difficulties with abducting your own children when there are no contested custodial issues surrounding that child,'' Mr Comeskey said.
He said there would need to be a careful examination of how Xue could receive a fair trial given the publicity surrounding the case.
‘‘There are obviously going to be difficulties - his case is different to most. There has been huge media interest around the country and it has been sustained for sometime. So that'll be an issue that will need to be looked at at some stage, undoubtedly.''
Qian Xun is being raised in China by the late Ms Liu's mother, Xiaoping Liu.
