Police found three very thin women wearing multiple layers of clothing at an Orewa house during a search connected to the Gulf Harbour body discovery, a trial in the High Court at Auckland has heard.

Shulai Wang's body was found in Auckland's Gulf Harbour wrapped in rubbish bags with two SunRice rice bags tied to her containing more than 15kg of garden stone. The 70-year-old had travelled to New Zealand from Hainan Island in China in August 2023 to seek religious instructions from Kaixiao Liu, and was one of six women who stayed with Liu's family.

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

Detective Beth Bates told the court the women she saw at the house looked tired and a bit dirty. She arranged for a Mandarin-speaking doctor to examine the women, but the women declined. One woman Bates tried to talk to through an interpreter just smiled and rocked back and forth.

Police first searched the house on Harvest Avenue, Orewa on 1 July 2024, a day after Kaixiao Liu and his wife Xiao were arrested at the airport. Evidence showed bags of SunRice rice bags filled with stones similar to those found on Wang.

Wang's body was unidentified for months until Operation Parade traced serial numbers on rice bags to a purchase of more than 18 bags by Kaixiao Liu. A woman whose name is suppressed told a detective she had come to New Zealand with someone who is no longer here, leading police to contact Customs and confirm the person was Shulai Wang.

Detective Sergeant Nian Zhou spoke to the women at the house, who initially didn't engage but subsequently answered questions about their daily lives. "They mentioned about they had three meals every day, mainly rice. Occasionally they had meat, eggs to eat," Zhou said.

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. Police believed 14 people had been housed in the five-bedroom house including the defendants' four children.