Karen Sweeney, AAP
After killing Epping mum Ju ’Kelly’ Zhang her boyfriend watched a garbage truck empty her body from a wheelie bin.
Joon Seong Tan was found guilty of her murder by a jury in Victoria’s Supreme Court on Wednesday 31 May.
The couple had been dating for just a month when Tan killed Ms Zhang in her home in February 2021.
Prosecutors told jurors Tan had murdered Ms Zhang sometime between 5pm and 6pm after sharing dinner with her and her eight-year-old son.
Ms Zhang had reportedly soured on the relationship with Tan and had started seeing another man.
Tan had seen his car parked in her driveway.
Jurors were told Tan had told a friend he believed Ms Zhang was cheating on him and if he found out that was the case he would “kill her, hug her and die together“.
It was alleged Tan also told a friend that he had fought with Ms Zhang and killed her accidentally, before cleaning up and moving her body to a laundry cupboard.
Jurors accepted the argument by prosecutors that Tan had then moved her body to a wheelie bin, drove it to Heidelberg West and placed it with others for collection.
After driving Ms Zhang’s son to school, Tan returned and watched the garbage truck empty the bin, before returning it to Ms Zhang’s home.
He later searched online for “how many years for killing a person in Australia“ and “how is stinky garbage disposed of in Australia“.
Ms Zhang’s body was discovered by police during a search of a Wollert landfill site in June 2021. She had suffered at least one stab wound to her heart.
Tan will face a pre-sentence hearing at a later date.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
