Man charged with fatally stabbing Auckland woman was face of petition calling for harsher crime penalties

Manchao Li, 64, who is accused of killing Auckland woman Zhimin Yang in July 2019.

A man charged with breaching a protection order and murdering a woman in Auckland was the face of a petition to Parliament calling for harsher penalties for criminals.

Manchao Li, 64, has this morning appeared in the High Court in Auckland where it was confirmed his interim name suppression has lifted.

He's accused of killing Zhimin Yang on July 29 last year on Westgate Drive in broad daylight, by stabbing her to death.

Neighbours rushed to try to save Ms Yang and one neighbour told 1 NEWS she was covered in a huge amount of blood.

Zhimin Yang was pronounced dead at the scene, which for several hours after her death was covered with the paramedic equipment used to try to save her.

Police were called to the scene in Massey after a report of an assault this morning.

Police say Li was caught a short time after killing Ms Yang, after he took off and was stopped by a member of the public.

Manchao Li had tight links with the Act Party in the mid-2000s, when an MP at the time Kenneth Wang accepted a petition from the "very brave and hard-working New Zealander" calling for harsher laws.

Li had been burgled three times and wrote to then Prime Minister Helen Clark asking why New Zealand was "generous to criminals".

Manchao Li, second from right, presents a petition to Parliament in 2005 alongside then ACT party leader Rodney Hide.

Act Party leader at the time, Rodney Hide, told 1 NEWS today he did not want to comment.

However in 2005 Mr Hide detailed how Li was "disillusioned about New Zealand's criminal justice system".

Mr Hide and Mr Wang accepted the petition on the steps of Parliament in 2005.

Li at the time was quoted as saying he wanted to ensure "criminals are locked up" and that he had "no idea what the problem is with our country".

His petition attracted just short of 5000 signatures.

Current ACT leader David Seymour said:

"It is saddening to hear about such serious criminal proceedings. However, having personally had no association with the accused, and the case being before the courts, I’m unable to comment further."

Mr Hide did not want to comment. 

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