Nai Yin XUE - 09/03/2020

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(2) of the Parole Act 2002

Nai Yin XUE

Hearing: 9 March 2020

at Spring Hill Corrections Facility via AVL from Rolleston Prison

Members of the Board:

  • Sir Ron Young – Chairperson
  • Assoc. Prof P Brinded
  • Judge J P Gittos
  • Mr C King

Counsel: Mr R Chambers

In Attendance:

  • Mr A Deng – Mandarin interpreter
  • Mr T Graham (NZPB)
  • Mr S Sherwood (Stuff)

Support people:

  • [withheld]

DECISION OF THE BOARD

  1. Nai Yin Xue was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. He was first imprisoned in July 2009.  He has some previous convictions for assaulting both the deceased and his child in the past.
  2. This is the first time he appears before the Board.
  3. As far as the facts are concerned, Mr Xue murdered his wife by strangling her. He left her in the boot of the car and took their young child with him to Melbourne. Mr Xue then abandoned the child in Melbourne and flew to America.  Eventually, he was discovered, in America, returned and he stood trial. He persisted in his denial of the murder. When we questioned him today he told us that he first came to admit that he had murdered his wife while he was in prison in 2010.
  4. Mr Xue works well in prison as a cleaner. He behaves well in prison as far as the prison others are concerned. He has spent some time trying to improve his English.
  5. Today, he required the services of an interpreter. He says that he is working hard on English but that his age had prevented him from retaining as much information as he had hoped. Today therefore, Mr Xue has not completed any rehabilitative programmes. He is not eligible to undertake a group programme given his limited English and he has not been able to commence any other programmes using an interpreter.
  6. There is something of a conflict between the parole assessment report (PAR) and the psychological report. The PAR said that he is of low risk of re-offending and could usefully do the Short Rehabilitation Programme (SRP) in prison as a way of attending to his rehabilitative needs. We think there are two problems with that. The first is that the psychological report we consider correctly assesses Mr Xue with a far higher risk of violent re-offending. As we have noted Mr Xue has a history of violence within his family.  Secondly, it is clear to us that Mr Xue could not do the SRP because his English is not good enough. In addition, we doubt whether in any event it would be of sufficient significance to address his worrying propensity for violence.
  7. The psychological report suggests that he now complete one on one work with a psychologist with an interpreter. We think that is an appropriate way forward. Once that has been completed he can turn his mind to reintegration.  He will no doubt by the end of that treatment have developed a safety plan. The question will then become when it is safe to release Mr Xue, and under what circumstances.
  8. We will see him again in 12 months time, by the end of March 2021. In the meantime he remains an undue risk.

Sir Ron Young
Chairperson