Gulf Harbour body trial: Rice bags around body led to the accused

The Chinese woman whose body was found in Auckland's Gulf Harbour came to seek religious instruction from Kaixiao Liu, one of the people accused of killing her, the Crown says.

Shulai Wang, 70, came to New Zealand in 2023 from China's Hainan province and her body was found wrapped in plastic bags floating in water in March 2024.

Four family members have been accused of the kidnapping and manslaughter of Wang, and are facing trial in the Auckland High Court.

They were Liu and his wife Lanyue Xiao, both 38, as well as Liu's mother Xiuyun Li, 63, and Liu's father Jingui Liu, 65.

Crown prosecutor Emma Kerr said Wang had suffered blunt force injuries on her head, face and arms, and was denied food and locked up in a tent before her death.

She said it was believed that Wang was punished as she was believed to be breaking the rules of Liu's house, where she stayed.

The rice bags

Police were called when fisherman Paul Middleton found a hand sticking out of the plastic bags on 12 March 2024.

Kerr said a human body bent in half at the waist and bound with black tape in the foetal position was found when the bags were unwrapped at the Auckland City Hospital mortuary the next day.

The two plastic rice bags contained garden stones used to weigh the body down, and proved to be key in how officers found the accused, Kerr said in her opening statement.

"Taking the serial number of each of those rice bags, police managed to work out some potential locations as to where they might have been brought," she said.

Officers found someone purchased an unusually large amount of the rice - 15 bags of the 10-kilogram rice - at a North Shore supermarket and traced the bank account to Liu.

The Ark

Apart from the four family members, police found Liu and Xiao's four young children when they visited Liu's house in Orewa, as well as five other women staying in the house, which was referred to as the "Ark".

As the leader of the religious group, Liu was referred to the "Lord", and his wife Xiao was referred to as the "Queen", while the unrelated women lived in servitude to Liu and his family.

Kerr did not elaborate on what rules Wang might have broken, but said Wang was locked up in a tent on the deck of the house and deprived of food.

She tried to escape to the neighbour's property, but was caught and taken back, Kerr said.

Wang and her family were among the more than 30 families following Liu, Kerr said.

Dairies and recordings found in the house detailed how Wang was treated before her death, as well as discussions around how to explain Wang's death, Kerr said.

A jury of six men and six women have been selected for the trail.

Paul Middleton, the fisherman who found Wang's body, and another witness who noticed the bag while walking his dog also gave evidence in court.

The four defendants, accompanied by Mandarin interpreters, chose to represent themselves with stand-by lawyers being assigned to each of them.

They urged the jury to keep an open mind and thanked the jury for their services.

Earlier in the day, the court granted the Crown prosecutor's application to remove allegation of assault in relation to the alleged manslaughter.

Liu, his mother and Xiao have also been charged with improperly interfering with or offering an indignity to a dead human body.

Liu and his wife were charged with attempt to pervert course of justice by coaching Wang's son to give false evidence regarding his mother.

Liu also faced another charge of failing to carry out obligations in relation to computer system search when requested by the police.

Justice Mathew Downs said the trial could last four to six weeks.

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