Wang and five other female religious devotees lived with Kaixiao and his father and mother, Jingui Liu and Li, as well as his wife, Xiao, and their children, at an \u014crewa residence where they were in \u201cpractical servitude\u201d.<\/p>\n
Police revealed the identity of the Gulf Harbour victim, Shulai Wang, 70, of China. Photo \/ New Zealand Police<\/p>\n
In her opening submission, Crown prosecutor Emma Kerr said the women referred to Kaixiao Liu as \u201clord or master or teacher\u201d and his wife, Xiao, was called \u201cqueen\u201d.<\/p>\n
When police tried to question the women, \u201cSome only clasped their hands together in prayer and smiled\u201d, Kerr said.<\/p>\n
The Crown\u2019s case is that Wang and the other five women were controlled by a \u201cstrict set of rules\u201d and compliance was measured by a points system.<\/p>\n
Wang, who was the oldest devotee of the women, allegedly had breached those rules and was repeatedly punished.<\/p>\n
A pathologist observed \u201cmultiple\u201d blunt force injuries, Kerr said, which were inflicted prior to her death.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Emma Kerr. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t bruise once we\u2019re dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kerr said members were told by their leader: \u201cShe did not listen to God\u2019s way, and how she did not repent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police, she told the court, also found audio recordings and journal notes from those living in the home, which detailed the alleged treatment of Wang in the days leading up to her death, as well as her attempt to escape.<\/p>\n
Evidence found at the home, prosecutors allege, showed Wang died on or around March 7.<\/p>\n
Kaixiao Liu (left) and Lanyue Xiao appear in the North Shore District Court on July 1, 2024. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
Prosecutors say sect members \u2013 including Kaixiao Liu, his wife and his father \u2013 had wrapped her body in plastic and weighed it down with landscaping stones purchased from Bunnings before throwing it in a stream.<\/p>\n
But it didn\u2019t stay submerged for long.<\/p>\n
Kerr told the court the fisherman who found the body initially believed there could be meat inside, then he noticed clothing and believed it could be a bag of rags.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then he saw a hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that alongside Wang\u2019s body were two 10kg SunRice bags that were filled with stones. Kerr told the jury these would turn out to be \u201ccritical\u201d pieces of evidence as the serial numbers on the bags helped identify Kaixiao Liu as the person who had made large purchases of that brand of rice from Pak\u2019nSave Albany weeks before the body was found.<\/p>\n
Footage from Pak\u2019nSave Albany\u2019s petrol stop showed the sect leader filling up a white van.<\/p>\n
That same vehicle was also seen visiting the Gulf Harbour Marina on March 8, four days before the body was discovered.<\/p>\n
Kerr said when police inspected footage from the marina closely, they saw a group of five people, including children, walking between the white van and a floodgate bridge, pushing a pram.<\/p>\n
Gulf Harbour Marina Whangapar\u0101oa peninsula. Photo \/ Alex Burton <\/p>\n
Kaixiao Liu was also paying rates at the \u014crewa home where the sect members were residing.<\/p>\n
The sect leader and Xiao were arrested in June 2024, as they attempted to board a plane to China with return tickets.<\/p>\n
Accused wants \u2018the truth\u2019<\/p>\n
Kaixiao Liu, who is representing himself, said in his opening statement this was a \u201cdifficult situation\u201d for the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd of course difficult to us, we want to find out the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the group had asked people who \u201cmay know\u201d the truth, but they had not received an answer that satisfied them.<\/p>\n
Justice Mathew Downs said: \u201cWhat issues would you like the jury to look out for in the trial?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaixiao Liu asked the court to call the five women who lived at the \u014crewa address as witnesses.<\/p>\n
He said evidence from the women was \u201cjust hearsay\u201d and he claimed that he had encouraged them to tell him \u201cthe truth\u201d but they gave \u201cdifferent answers\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He accepted that maybe he had done wrong, but he wanted the truth to be found.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is truly like an American series … We don\u2019t know who the bad guy is yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Downs told the jury: \u201cThat\u2019s Mr [Kaixiao] Liu\u2019s way of saying keep an open mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaixiao Liu\u2019s wife, Xiao, said that while English was not her native language, she would do her best to speak the truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am thankful and grateful to be here with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
She asked the jury to examine whether the Crown\u2019s narrative, assumptions and stories were supported.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the conclusion of the trial, I believe you will do the right decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaixiao Liu\u2019s mother, Li, is also self-representing but is being assisted by Phil Hamlin, who gave her opening remarks. <\/p>\n
Hamlin said Li had no intention to kidnap, hold Wang against her will or deprive her of what she needed to live.<\/p>\n
She alleged she \u201cbarely had any contact\u201d with Wang and did not hurt or harm her, Hamlin said.<\/p>\n
Jingui Liu, Kaixiao Liu\u2019s father, thanked the judge and jury.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe you will do the justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Chosen to represent themselves\u2019<\/p>\n
The trial is scheduled to last between four and six weeks. <\/p>\n
Alongside the kidnapping and manslaughter charges, Kaixiao Liu, Xiao and Jingui Liu are also accused of interfering with a body. <\/p>\n
Both Kaixiao Liu and Xiao are charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.<\/p>\n
Kaixiao Liu alone is accused of failing to assist police.<\/p>\n
They have pleaded not guilty to all charges.<\/p>\n
Each defendant will be arguing their case themselves as they have elected not to be represented by a lawyer. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou must not reach any conclusion adverse to any defendant merely because the defendants have chosen to represent themselves,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have appointed an experienced criminal lawyer to help the defendants if their help is sought during the trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues such as sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wang and five other female religious devotees lived with Kaixiao and his father and mother, Jingui Liu and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7501,1443,95,51,3952,53893,22404,7800,10808,82529,2026,5821,2109,19630,44192,1874,30699,20589,78,197723,156316,1535,8732,111,43,139,69,11325,170178,312,222245,54,33494,65839,1316,1354,33447],"class_list":["post-443962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-7501","tag-about","tag-and","tag-auckland","tag-aucklands","tag-bag","tag-bizarre","tag-body","tag-crown","tag-defendants","tag-discovery","tag-everything","tag-family","tag-fisherman","tag-floating","tag-found","tag-gulf","tag-harbour","tag-in","tag-kaixiao","tag-liu","tag-march","tag-mystery","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-plastic","tag-ran","tag-says","tag-sect","tag-trial","tag-unidentified","tag-unsettling","tag-when","tag-woman","tag-wrapped"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}