Gulf Harbour body trial: Woman's body weighed less than 26kg when discovered

The body of a woman who was found wrapped in rubbish bags in Auckland's Gulf Harbour weighed just under 26 kilograms, a High Court jury has heard.

A forensic pathologist who conducted the post-mortem on the body, Dr Kilak Kesha, has been giving evidence in court about the death of 70-year-old Shulai Wang.

The Crown earlier said it believed Wang likely died on 7 March 2024, days before her body was discovered by a fisherman on 12 March.

Dr Kesha said the post-mortem, completed the day after the discovery, found the body measured 160 centimetres in length and weighed 25.6kg.

He said the body was moderately decomposed and he couldn't confirm the time of death.

A body loses weight during decomposition, and he couldn't be sure how much it would've weighed at the time of death, Kesha told the jury.

The Crown's case is that Wang travelled to New Zealand from Hainan Island in China to seek religious instructions from Kaixiao Liu in August 2023, and that she was one of six women who stayed with Liu's family at their Ōrewa home.

Kaixiao Liu, his wife Lanyue Xiao, and his parents Xiuyun Li and Jingui Liu have each denied the kidnapping and manslaughter of Wang.

The Crown said Wang was starved and punished for breaking the rules of the group, and bound in tape after a failed attempt to escape.

Kesha said the body had bruising on its arms and wrists, parts of the face - around the eyes and cheeks - and on the back of the head, which he believed would've been caused by blunt force trauma prior to Wang's death.

He said if Wang was alive when she was bound, she would've died during the process of being bound into a foetal position with rice bags of stone bound to her chest and abdomen - as she wouldn't have been able to breathe.

Asked by Crown prosecutor Henry Steele how he'd describe the weight of 25.6kg for a person of Wang's height, Kesha said the body loses weight during decomposition and he thought the person was small to begin with.

"There was no evidence of prolonged chronic weight loss," he said.

Kesha said the cheek bones were not prominent, her hair and nails were not brittle, and her teeth were in good condition.

Asked how long it would take for symptoms of weight loss to manifest in someone's teeth, Kesha said several months.

Asked about the blunt force trauma, Kesha said there was no pattern to the bruising and he couldn't identify the object that resulted in the bruising.

Kesha said an abscess was found in the abdomen area, but that wouldn't have caused the death.

Xiuyun Li's standby lawyer Philip Hamlin asked Kesha during cross-examination whether some of the bruising could have resulted if the woman had slapped herself very hard, to which Kesha said yes.

Hamlin asked if the woman had fallen from a fence, whether that could have caused bruises to her face and head.

Kesha said yes, if it was a hard surface.

Kesha said there were no fractures found on the body.

Earlier, the court heard from the Crown's opening that the defendants kept detailed diary entries and recordings of their daily lives, including what happened to Wang.

The Crown said the evidence showed a story was concocted to explain Wang's death.

It said the story evolved from a suggestion that Wang was a traitor and a threat, and that she'd killed herself.

The Crown said Kaixiao Liu told others on 10 March 2025 that if they were asked to explain events, just say she fell and died, and was wrapped up and buried at sea.

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