Cun Xiu Tian

Waitemata police say they have arrested a 19 year old man in connection with the death of Auckland grandmother Cun Xiu Tian.

Mrs Tian, 69, was raped and died from a savage beating inflicted during an invasion of her Te Atatu  home.

Waitemata Police say a 19-year-old Te Atatu man is in custody and will appear in Waitakere District Court this morning charged with murder and two counts of sexual violation.

All charges are for alleged offending against Mrs Tian…

…Ms Tian was found beaten and bloodied in her Glenvil Lane home on Friday by her daughter and son-in-law when they arrived back from work shortly after 5pm.

Police have said the attack – which was not heard by any neighbours – was violent and prolonged, and Ms Tian was struck multiple times around her head and face.

Police brought in criminal profilers as they tried to find who was responsible for the horrific death and said yesterday they were seeking sightings of a man in a white and green tracksuit…

…The local community has been on edge since the killing, with some saying they were afraid to go out of the house and others concerned about friends and neighbours who stay in their homes during the day by themselves…source

Police had earlier told residents they suspected the murder happened as a result of a botched burglary but have been guarded, releasing scant information to the media.

News of Ms Tian’s sexual assault only came to light today after police had made an arrest and charges were laid. The identity of the man has been withheld, police gave only his age and said he was a local man from Te Atatu – the same community in which Mrs Tian lived.

Police have yet to say if there was a racial element to the crime – Asian immigrants are often perceived as wealthy in New Zealand and have been targeted in robberies and home invasions many times. In any event, police do not keep figures for racially motivated crimes in New Zealand.

Mrs Tian’s death came a week after another woman was murdered as she went for her morning jog through the quiet Auckland suburb of Remuera. A man, unknown to the victim, surrendered himself to police shortly afterwards. Police have released no details of either the alleged perp or the manner of his victim’s death.

Last month a female jogger was hog-tied and raped in Dunedin. Police released few details about the macabre attack in which a female jogger was tied up and sexually assaulted near Ross Creek reservoir shortly before nightfall. A couple of days later police found a woman’s body in Dunedin’s Stathallan Street and are treating her death as homicide. The woman was named as 51 year old Karin Ann Ross of Dunedin.

Last year, 58 year old Blessinda Gotingco was run down, raped and murdered in the Auckland suburb of North Shore. The man responsible, a repeat offender, was under supervision at the time of her death and wearing a monitoring device on his ankle.

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