New Zealand police concerned about dumped toddler's mother (Roundup)

Sep 18, 2007, 6:26 GMT

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.