Wellington - New Zealand police said Tuesday that they had
'grave concerns' for the safety of the mother of a 3-year-old toddler
abandoned at a rail station by her father after he took her to
Australia and then flew to the United States.
They said there was a history of violence in the family and at one
time protection orders had been issued against the father, who taught
Chinese martial arts.
Police said they had found the car of Anan Liu, 27, at Auckland
International Airport, after she was last seen on the morning of
September 10 but they did not believe she had left New Zealand.
They visited three houses where she had lived in Auckland and one
in Wellington but found no trace of the mother of Qian Sun Xue, who
was nicknamed Pumpkin by Australian police after the brand of
clothing she was wearing when found.
The TV3 channel said Xue Naiyin, 54, had been convicted of
assaulting his wife in June.
Police formally declared the case an abduction and asked Interpol
to find the man who left his daughter in Melbourne's Southern Cross
station on Saturday, two days after the pair had flown from Auckland
to Australia.
Auckland detective Simon Scott said at a news conference that Liu
was being regarded as a missing person but would not be drawn on
whether a homicide inquiry had been launched.
The child remains in temporary foster care in Melbourne, and New
Zealand Member of Parliament Pansy Wong told Radio New Zealand that
attempts were being made to contact family members.
Xue was reported to have come to New Zealand from China 12 years
ago and he and his daughter had New Zealand passports.
He was reportedly well known in the Chinese community in Auckland,
where he edited a magazine called The Chinese Times. The case has
dominated Chinese radio talk shows throughout Tuesday.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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