Do you remember Yin Ping Yang, the 80 year old Grandmother who was savagely beaten and stamped on in a home invasion in June 2008?

Her death, one of a series of attacks on Asian people in New Zealand, was followed by the issuing of a safety warning for Asians in New Zealand:

“Safety Warning for Asian Tourists” Jun 30 2008
“Tourists have been advised by one ethnic group that it is not safe to walk alone on the street in New Zealand, as other Asian groups say the country is fast losing its reputation as a “safe country to visit”.

The New Zealand-Japan Society has advised tourists to travel in groups, rather than individually, after arrests were made over the murder of Korean backpacker Jae Hyeon Kim…..

Last month, Joanne Wang, 39, was killed in a hit and run after her handbag was snatched; Yang Yin Ping, 80, was fatally attacked in her Manurewa home; and Navtej Singh, 30, was shot during a robbery of his liquor store. All the victims were Asian.

Businessman Charles Kang, a trade consultant originally from Singapore, said many of his overseas clients have raised concerns over safety issues over doing business in New Zealand.

“One compared New Zealand to South Africa, and another said Auckland was fast becoming for us what Oakland is to America,” said Mr Kang. “Many expressed surprise at the level of crime we experience here, because New Zealand has a reputation as being a safe country.”

It seems that concern was well justified.

The trial of Mrs Yan’s killer has just finished. Olinale Ah You, 30 was found guilty of murder and will be sentenced on June 4. It’s been revealed that he has a string of offences for attacks, mostly against Asian people and was already serving a 12 year jail stretch (from Clio Francis on Stuff)

“Last year Ah You was sentenced to 12 years’ jail by Justice Judith Potter after he pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated robbery and three charges of robbery – also in South Auckland, mainly against Asians from whom he took cash and jewellery…

String of offences

December 6, 2005: Olinale Ah You attacks and robs an Asian tiler in Dannemora, South Auckland.

August 24, 2007: Ah You enters a woman’s home in Papatoetoe and drags her down the hall by her hair. He demands money and threatens to hurt her three-month-old baby if she does not give it to him.

September 19, 2007: Ah You enters a house in Clendon and attacks another tiler. He punches and kicks the victim until he is pulled off by an associate. He leaves the male victim with numerous injuries including a fractured skull.

May 27, 2008: Ah You enters house in a Flatbush house and threatens a 17-year-old boy, 17, with a spanner. He makes off with jewellery worth $25,000 worth of jewellery.

June 11, 2008: Ah You attacks and fatally injures Yan Ping Yang, 80, in her Manukau home.

June 27, 2008: Ah You arrives at a house in Manukau and uses a knife to demand money from a 34-year-old mother. He puts her in a headlock and drags her down the hallway in front of her four-year-old child. He makes off with money and jewellery.”

The trial of Joanne Wang‘s killers is still going on at Auckland High Court. She died after being run over during one of hundreds of handbag snatches that have plagued Asian women in Auckland, one of which resulted in the death of an innocent courier driver who was caught in the cross fire with the armed offenders squad on an Auckland motorway.