A High Court judge has told the jury in the murder trial of Nai Yin Xue to put any previous publicity about him to one side.
Justice Hugh Williams was addressing the all-female jury at the High Court in Auckland at the beginning of the trial of Xue, 55, who denies murdering his wife An An Liu in September 2007.
The case garnered substantial media publicity after Xue's three-year-old daughter Qian Xun Xue was abandoned at a Melbourne railway station, and after Xue was on the run for four months before being caught in the United States.
But Justice Williams told the jury it must judge the case only on what is presented in the courtroom and he told jurors that any media coverage either before or during the trial could not be considered.
"It is your duty to put those matters entirely out of your mind," he said.
"Mr Xue is entitled to be judged solely on what you hear in this courtroom." He also said that while events outside New Zealand might be raised as part of the narrative, the jurors were not required to make decisions or judgments on it.
"This is not a court of morals," Justice Williams said.
"He is charged only in relation to certain actions in New Zealand." Ms Liu's body was found in the boot of Xue's car in late September 2007. The Crown says Xue strangled her to death before fleeing the country.
The trial is expected to last three weeks.
