Five-year-old snatched in NZ

2008-07-15 11:41

Wellington - A family appealed on Tuesday for the return of a five-year-old Chinese girl, a day after she was kidnapped by a masked man outside her Auckland home.

Police in the affluent suburb of Harrowglen said they believed the girl was targeted and assured other Asian families that they did not believe a random child snatcher was at work.

"There is nothing to suggest this was a random act or that the perpetrators will strike again," Detective Inspector Steve Wood told reporters.

"We believe this was a premeditated crime that involved planning and preparation."

But 30 hours after Cina Ma, called Shing Shing in a police statement but known as Xin Xin to her family, was last seen, there was no message or ransom note from the man who bundled her into a car as she rode her bike outside her home on Monday afternoon.

Her grandmother told the New Zealand Herald that the child had screamed, "Let me go. I don't know you," loudly in Mandarin as she was grabbed but English-speaking neighbours did not react, not knowing what she was saying.

Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, also has the largest Asian immigrant population in New Zealand.

The only witness to the girl's abduction was her six-year-old cousin, a boy who was playing with her in the quiet street.

Appealing for her return, the girl's aunt, Hong Zhou, said at a news conference, "Xin Xin is only five years old. She will not understand what is going on. She will be very frightened, and she will want to be with her family."

"We just want Xin Xin - our little girl - to come home to us ... safely," she said.

Xin Xin's mother, Jin Zhou, who is separated from her husband, wiped away tears but said nothing as her sister read a statement. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA