Gulf Harbour trial: Diary found at defendants' house discussed establishing 'kingdom'

The court has heard that a diary found at an Auckland home at the center of police's investigation into the death of 70-year-old Shulai Wang talked about establishing a "kingdom" and having "many servants".

Audio recordings and text files in relation to Wang have been found on a defendant's device, and fingerprints of Wang and another defendant were found on documents at the defendants' house in Orewa, north Auckland.

Wang's body was found wrapped in layers of rubbish bags in Gulf Harbour by a fisherman in March 2024.

The Crown said Wang came to New Zealand to seek religious instructions from Kaixiao Liu.

Liu, along with his wife Lanyue Xiao, mother Xiuyun Li and father Jingui Liu are charged with the kidnapping and manslaughter of Wang, which they deny, and are facing trial at the Auckland High Court.

All four defendants are representing themselves at the trial, and are assisted by standby lawyers appointed by the court.

The Crown's case is that Wang was locked up in a tent and may have been placed in a suitcase at one point before her death for not obeying the rules at Liu's house, where she stayed.

'How to treat defection'

The court heard that a number of audio and text files containing the name Wang were found on a MacBook seized from Liu when he was arrested on 30 June 2024.

"Of particular interest were six audio files," Crown prosecutor Henry Steele said.

The six files, dated from 6-27 March 2024, were named "warning min", "justifiable defense", "how to treat defection", "sort out", "two weeks of seclusion" and "traitor", Steele said.

There were also a number of text files identified on the device, detective Laura Van Doormal confirmed.

More than 130 digital devices were seized during Operation Parade. The police looked at 44 of them, but weren't able to access some content because they didn't know the passwords, or the device was too old, Van Doormal said.

On Wednesday, the court heard that Liu didn't provide passwords to the police when they conducted a search warrant in August 2024.

Fingerprints and documents

Pages of diaries, exercise books, notepads and loose-leaf pages were also found at the defendants' house. Detective Beth Bates estimated there could be "thousands" of documents.

The notes were written by Wang, Xiao, Liu's parents, and three other women who stayed at the house, she said.

Earlier, the jury heard that five women in the house who followed Liu's teachings had all overstayed their visas by more than 42 days, and were deported in August 2024.

Wang's fingerprints were found on one small notebook, and Xiao's fingerprints were found on several documents, the court heard.

One document in the court exhibits, which was written in Chinese but translated into English, was read out by Cyril Young, an experienced translator who assisted the police with their investigation.

"Never doubt my husband's love for me, my husband's relationship with me," the note said.

"No one can replace you, so you must make yourself become the unreplaceable one. The bigger your mind is, the bigger the kingdom will be.

"At the same time, there must be various codes and rules, regulations, and systems to retrain those evil..."

Young also read "Only when you can establish a royal family and manage it well, then can the kingdom flourish, a healthy and prosperous royal family will inevitably lead to the healthy, prosperous development of the kingdom".

The notes continued on to say "you must become a real queen, a real queen must have many servants who obey you, only then you can play your true role".

The Crown said earlier that Xiao was referred to as the "queen".

Xiao questioned if these notes were examined by professional handwriting experts, and Bates replied "no".

She also questioned why the police deported the women when they could keep them in New Zealand as witnesses.

"You kept the documents to work against us, but you deported them to China," Xiao said.

Bates said it's Immigration New Zealand which deported these women.

Wang's family

Bates travelled to Hainan with another police officer and met Wang's family in August 2024.

She said Wang's youngest son was a friend of Liu's, and that Wang's husband, who has neurological difficulties, stayed with this son, so the police didn't contact Wang's husband.

The police said instead they contacted Wang's oldest son Yingfen Wu, who didn't know that his mother had passed away.

Bates said police in Hainan's city of Qionghai told her Wang's husband had a "shrunken brain", and when she met him in person she found that he didn't seem to have full cognitive capacity.

"He was smiling and didn't seem to be fully aware of what was happening," she said.

Earlier the Crown said that Wang's youngest son's family was one of at least 37 families that devoted themselves to Liu's teachings.

In the morning, the defendants questioned if the police tried to prevent Wang's oldest son from visiting New Zealand.

Both Liu and Xiao asked senior constable Liwei Guo, who exchanged messages with Wang's oldest son Wu on WeChat, if he tried to promote the idea to Wu that he didn't have to come to New Zealand and the police could send Wang's ashes back to China.

Guo said this was mentioned as one option as Wu expressed difficulties in getting a visa and not being able to afford to come to New Zealand.

The police had also presented him with other options and said they were willing to accommodate whatever he chose to do to their best ability, Guo said.

"I didn't try to persuade him not to come to NZ. If you read the messages in whole, you will see that," Guo said.

Xiao also questioned Guo about the cremation of Wang's body, including asking if Guo had ever received any signed legal documents from Wu.

He said it was Wu's choice to cremate his mother's body as Wu indicated he couldn't afford for himself and his younger brother to visit New Zealand, and a ground burial in China would also be too expensive.

The trial continues at the Auckland High Court.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.