Auckland cult leader guilty of killing follower, desecrating body, witness tampering

Jurors have rejected the arguments of an Auckland cult leader and his family that it was “well-intentioned ignorance” and “panic” – not foul play – that led to the corpse of a 70-year-old house guest being dumped near a North Shore harbour two years ago.

Kaixiao Liu, a semi-celebrity in China who moved to New Zealand in 2017, now faces up to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of five charges: kidnapping, manslaughter, attempting to pervert the course of justice, misconduct with human remains and refusing to give police the access codes to his electronic devices during the second search warrant at his Ōrewa home.

His wife, Lanyue Xiao, was found guilty of kidnapping, manslaughter, misconduct with a corpse and attempting to pervert the course of justice. His mother, Dr Xiuyun Li, was found guilty of kidnapping and his father, Jinghui Liu, was found guilty of misconduct with a corpse.

Jurors in the High Court at Auckland deliberated for 11 hours over three days following lengthy closing addresses that took up the first half of the week. They were unable to reach verdicts on three charges: a manslaughter allegation against the cult leader’s mother and both kidnapping and manslaughter charges against the mother.

Justice Mathew Downs set a sentencing date for August.

The sect leader and his wife were arrested in June 2024 at Auckland Airport as they prepared to leave New Zealand for what was described as a short round-trip visit to China. But the investigation had begun three months earlier when a fisherman discovered the body of Shulai Wang wrapped in rubbish bags and floating in Gulf Harbour off the Whangaparāoa Peninsula.

It would take months for police to identify Wang, a Chinese citizen who had overstayed her visa after arriving in New Zealand in August 2023. But the serial numbers on two rice bags filled with rocks that had been used to weigh Wang’s body down eventually led police to Liu and his family.

Bigamy with ‘the Lord’

Voluminous diary entries found inside their home, recorded sermons found on Liu’s laptop and later listening devices that police had hidden inside the house helped give authorities a fuller picture of what life was like for the defendants and for Wang.

The victim was one of six women who had travelled from China to live with Liu and receive religious instruction for his unorthodox take on Christianity. Documents found inside the house revealed that at least some of the women has written unofficial “covenant of the body” contracts in which they pledged to “enter a mutual love relationship” with Liu.

All of those in the household, including his wife and parents, would refer to Liu by a Mandarin term that was repeatedly translated to either “Lord” or “Master” – although it was pointed out that there is a different word for “God”, which wasn’t used – and they were expected to follow strict house rules. Those perceived as not adequately following house rules were ordered to repent.

Wang, it appeared from diary entries, seemed to be singled out the most for perceived rules infractions after she had trouble keeping up with the younger members. She was denied meals and ordered to sleep in a tent outside the home, the defendants themselves noted.

Police released this photo of 70-year-old Gulf Harbour homicide victim Shulai Wang after a months-long, international investigation to identify her and determine the circumstances of her death.

But her punishments took on a more sadistic tone, prosecutors suggested, after she tried to escape the gated compound on March 6, 2024. At that point, she was held against her will, resulting in the kidnapping charges, it was argued.

In recordings recovered by police, Liu explained how Wang’s mouth was sealed with tape after she wouldn’t stop crying or screaming. Then, after she continued to make noise, a towel was stuffed in her mouth and she was put into a box or suitcase because it was more “fixed” and “soundproof”, he said. He described the actions to followers as “justifiable defence”.

“We are completely forced to defend and protect God’s home,” he said.

Wang was found dead on the afternoon of March 7. After a household meeting in which Liu solicited advice from everybody, including children, on how to dispose of the body without alerting police, Wang was folded in half with tape, stuffed into the plastic bags then put in the boot of the Liu family van. The macabre package was then placed in a pram and wheeled to a footbridge over a muddy stream that drained into the ocean. The body was thrown from the bridge.

‘Panic’, not homicide

Xiao, the sect leader’s wife, insisted during her closing address on Tuesday that it was intended as a respectful “sea burial”, albeit with “well-intentioned ignorance” about New Zealand customs and norms regarding such matters. She also insisted that Wang had died either of natural causes or from a fall while trying to jump over a fence into a neighbour’s yard.

“Panic after death must not be used by the Crown to facilitate a story of kidnapping and manslaughter,” she said, noting that the pathologist could not determine a specific cause of death.

“Ms Wang’s body has spoken the only scientific proof from the grave. She was not physically harmed. I ask you to respect the science, reject the speculation.”

Alleged sect leader Kaixiao Liu (from left), his wife Lanyue Xiao, his father Jingui Liu and mother Xiuyun Li. Photos / Jason Dorday

The victim’s body did have numerous bruises – including around her wrists, indicating that she might have been restrained, pathologist Dr Kilak Kesha had testified earlier in the trial. However, she did not have any fractured bones or cut injuries and although the corpse weighed less than 30kg, there were no signs of prolonged starvation, he said.

Xiao also argued that the English translations presented to jurors had been biased towards the prosecution. Jurors had a duty, when presented with both a “neutral” translation and one that painted them poorly, to give the defendants the benefit of the doubt, she argued.

She described her husband’s recorded words as “more like an emotional outburst” as he blew off steam about a troubled housemate, rather than an actual plan to carry out anything sinister.

Liu gagged

The defendants all chose to represent themselves at trial, although the judge encouraged them repeatedly – sometimes verging on pleading – to consult with standby lawyers who had been instructed to sit next to each of them.

None of the defendants opted to testify on their own behalf, but both Liu and Xiao told the court they wanted to deliver their own closing addresses. Only Xiao was allowed to do so. The judge admonished her twice, outside the presence of jurors, for improperly using her address as an opportunity to “testify” without fear of cross-examination.

“I stand here ... with deep remorse,” the defendant had told jurors after describing Wang’s death as a “profound family tragedy”.

Referring to that statement later as an example of testifying, the judge tersely told her: “Ms Xiao, you know perfectly well what you are doing.”

Judge Mathew Downs. Photo / Jason Oxenham

In what he acknowledged was an unusual decision, the judge ruled that Liu’s normal right to argue his case directly was superseded by the right of his co-defendants to a fair trial.

All four standby lawyers had spoken out in opposition to Liu addressing the jury directly, with his own standby lawyer noting that the defendant’s earlier attempts at witness cross-examination had been “often ill-considered, irrelevant and, ironically, against Mr Liu’s own interests”. The sect leader was described as having “sprung surprises” on lawyers throughout the trial, “leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces”.

Justice Downs, in a conversation outside the jury’s presence, said that he also had “grave anxiety” about what the defendant might say, and the unintended consequences that “may be born by his co-defendants”.

“I acknowledge the significance of the step,” he said. “But I see no other way to ensure the fairness of the trial is not compromised.”

A screenshot from one of Kaixiao Liu's music videos. Photo / Youtube

Speaking on Liu’s behalf, standby lawyer Nick Leader emphasised the requirement that jurors not be swayed by prejudice.

“You may well find that the residents ... led an unconventional life, to say the least,” he conceded. “They’re perfectly entitled to live their lives as they were.”

He also warned jurors not to misinterpret religious metaphors and hyperbole, describing some of Liu’s statements as “grandiose sermonising ... not meant to be taken literally but figuratively”.

‘Tough love’

While there had been talk between Liu and his father about restraining Wang with wire, there’s no proof the conversation was carried out, Leader said, adding that the most jurors could possibly infer was that Wang might have been tied up with soft rope. But if that was the case, he added, it was only to keep her still in case she had suffered internal injuries during a fall.

“It was for her own protection – tough love, you might think,” he said.

The themes were repeated by lawyers Philip Hamlin and Shane Tait, who were given permission by Liu’s parents to give closing addresses on their behalf.

Standby defence lawyers Philip Hamlin (from left), Shane Tait and Quentin Duff appear in the High Court at Auckland during the manslaughter trial for Kaixiao Liu and his family. Photo / Jason Dorday

“I want you to look at what was in their heads, what their design was, and it wasn’t a negative one,” Hamlin said. “What this household intended was Ms Wang repenting and getting better ... [to] bring her back into the fold.

“Everyone was surprised, clearly, when she died.”

Tait, meanwhile, characterised the sect leader’s father as the lowest in the pecking order, having just arrived in the household from China weeks earlier. He couldn’t have really helped or encouraged any crimes when he was living in such an “overbearing situation”, he suggested.

“Is the help deliberate or is the help part of God’s brainwashing – the last sheep of the flock to arrive out here?” he asked.

Cult leader’s words used against him

But prosecutors Henry Steele, Emma Kerr and Sam Meyerhoff argued that it was “common sense” that Wang died as a result of being put in a situation that would have been clearly “very dangerous to any reasonable mind”. They tied her up and detained her against her will because defection from the group had to be met with punishment, they alleged.

“She was denied food, water and assistance, including medical care,” Steele said during the Crown’s closing address. “At this point, it seems she’s held in the garage, no doubt terrified at her predicament, and she’s screaming.

Crown prosecutor Henry Steele appears in the High Court at Auckland during the first day of the five-week manslaughter trial for Kaixiao Liu and his family. Photo / Jason Dorday

“To prevent her screaming, her mouth is taped. It’s apparent she’s placed in a box or suitcase and a towel at some point is stuffed in her mouth – obviously and unavoidably restricting her airflow ... and limiting her ability to breathe.”

All nine of the other adults in the household were “acting more or less as one, albeit at Mr Kaixiao Liu’s direction”, Steele said. That included the five other followers who were deported before police realised the extent of their involvement, he said.

Steele quoted from Liu’s own recorded words in which the cult leader emphasised during a house meeting that they were all in it together.

“Everyone in this house shares the same responsibility, except for the children,” Liu had explained. “From a legal point of view, this is like a drug gang. You can’t say that I didn’t touch the drug, but you transported it in the car. You know it’s a drug. If you transport it together, then the responsibility is the same, understand?

Kaixiao Liu (left) and wife Lanyue Xiao appear in the North Shore District Court on July 1, 2024, charged with tampering with the body of a then-unidentified woman found in the water off Gulf Harbour. Photo / Dean Purcell

“So, this is what we are doing together, whether or not you held her down and fixed her in place with your own hands. You were all participating together, understand? So, from a legal point of view, all the same. We bear the same responsibility.”

It was a concise explanation of the law of parties, which the prosecution relied on to charge both generations of the Liu family with manslaughter.

The speech was one of the few times in the recordings that the defendant said something the prosecutor agreed with, Steele told jurors.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.