Body in case may be student

The body-in-the-suitcase victim is likely to be a 20-year-old Chinese student who came to New Zealand in October.

A police hotline yesterday received a name and description of a young man matching that of the battered body found folded up inside a suitcase and floating in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour on Friday morning.

Detective inspector Bernie Hollewand told the Herald on Sunday an aquaintance of the missing man had described a 20-year-old with physical similarities to the man in the suitcase.

Police were attempting to contact the missing man's family through authorities on mainland China. Mr Hollewand said the missing man was from Zhejiang, near Shanghai, and had been in New Zealand on a student visa since October.

As the police appealed again for witnesses to the dumping of the suitcase, more details emerged of the grisly find.

Mr Hollewand said the suitcase was found by a couple on a yacht, about 100m from the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The find came after 9am on Friday, about an hour after the incoming tide had turned.

The couple hauled the suitcase to their boat, unzipped it, and were horrified to find flesh and a blood-spattered towel. They secured the suitcase to the yacht with a line, and called police.

Mr Hollewand said a post mortem examination carried out on Friday afternoon had revealed that the man had died before he was placed in the suitcase.

"He died of multiple injuries which we are not going to discuss at this stage. There are a number of injuries consistent with a sustained assault."

Although the killing has raised the spectre of organised crime, police say there is nothing to indicate that at this stage.

Mr Hollewand said the man had been in the water for between 12 and 24 hours.

The man, 166cm tall, was wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. Police found nothing else inside the suitcase, other than a few items of men's clothing.

Mr Hollewand said it was difficult for police to identify where the suitcase had been thrown into the harbour because of variable tides. He urged anyone who had seen someone lugging a heavy suitcase in a way which might cause suspicion, to contact police.

John Cowan, duty officer at Coastguard control at Auckland's Marine Rescue Centre, said tidal movements around the harbour bridge were extreme and it was almost impossible to predict how the suitcase might have been carried.

He said the flow around the bridge pylons was about 4km/h at peak. The pull of the tide and the disruption of the pylons meant objects just feet apart could be washed to different parts of the harbour.

The murder inquiry has been dubbed Operation Bestland, after the brand name of the suitcase. Police have asked for anyone with information they believe might assist to call 0800 237 852.

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