Kaixiao Liu, 36, and Lanyue Xiao, 36, appear in the North Shore District Court on 1 July, 2024. Photo: NZ Herald / Dean Purcell
The two people charged in relation to a homicide investigation sparked by a body found in Auckland's Gulf Harbour in March, can now be named.
They are Kaixiao Liu, 36, and Lanyue Xiao, 36.
The pair were charged with offering an indignity to a dead human body after being stopped and arrested at the airport early last month.
They were initially granted interim name suppression, but the judge had declined an application for continued name suppression at a subsequent call of the case.
That application was also opposed by a lawyer acting for several media, Daniel Nilsson, who submitted that any reporting would be fair and accurate, that jurors would comply with what is expected of them and that there was a significant public interest in this case.
The pair's names continued to be suppressed for some time as one of their lawyers, Angela Roebeck, intended to appeal that decision.
Roebeck had argued that any publication of the names would prejudice the defendants' rights to a fair trial, considering the influence it would have on future jurors.
At the time, defence lawyer Michael Kan had also argued that one of the defendants had not yet had a chance to inform their family members, who are believed to be in China.
However, defence lawyer Michael Kan confirmed on Thursday that they are no longer seeking name suppression.
The two defendants have been remanded until a case review hearing in September.
Police at the scene in March after the discovery of the body off Gulf Harbour. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
