Wheelie bin murderer Ju 'Kelly' Zhang sentenced to 28 years in jail over stabbing of Melbourne girlfriend - as it emerges police caught killer heading to airport to escape Australia
- Ju 'Kelly' Zhang killed by boyfriend
- Body dumped in wheelie bin and found four months later
- Jury found Joon Seong Tan guilty of murder
A jealous killer who brutally stabbed his girlfriend to death in her own home was on his way to the airport when police chanced upon him.
Joon Seong Tan, 38, was on Friday sentenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria to 28-years in jail over the 2021 murder of Melbourne mum Ju 'Kelly' Zhang, 33.
Setting a 23-year non-parole period, Justice Amanda Fox told Tan he would likely spend every single day of his head sentence behind bars before being deported back to Malaysia where he was born.
+6
View gallery
+6
View gallery
In sentencing Tan, Justice Fox revealed just how close the vile killer was to escaping justice.
TRENDING
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-45-dead-family-home.html?ico=related-replace
The court heard homicide detectives had been on their way to arrest Tan when they just happened to see him strolling down the street.
Detectives had been eager to speak with Tan after he failed to meet them as arranged after the mysterious disappearance of Ms Zhang - a woman he had been dating for just on a month.
'On the 7th of February police were on their way to your Doncaster address when they located you by chance walking along a nearby street,' Justice Fox said.
'You had with you your passport and $3500 in cash.'
Tan was arrested and had his passport confiscated while detectives worked to build its case against him.
It would take four-and-a-half long months before his victim's body was eventually located in a tip in Melbourne's north following a painstaking search.
Tan would continue to deny murdering Ms Zhang all the way up until the lunch break after a jury convicted him of murder in May.
+6
View gallery
+6
View gallery
On Friday, the court heard harrowing details of how Ms Zhang was stabbed at least six times in the chest by Tan inside her Epping home while her eight-year old son watched television in another room.
When her mangled body was eventually pulled from the garbage, forensic experts were able to determine she had fought ferociously for her life, with stab wounds found on her forearms and hands.
When Tan was done, he lied to her little boy, telling him his mother had abandoned him.
After driving the boy around 'searching the streets' for his mother, Tan dumped Ms Zhang in a wheelie bin and and drove it to Heidelberg West - 15km away - where the bin was placed on the street alongside others for collection.
He then waited to watch the garbage truck empty Ms Zhang's body from the wheelie bin.
Justice Fox condemned Tan for his cold and ruthless behaviour.
'The manner in which you mistreated Ms Zhang's body and disposed of her in a domestic wheelie bin was callous and disgraceful,' she told Tan.
'You literally treated her as though she was garbage.'
Single mum Ju 'Kelly' Zhang (pictured) was killed inside her Melbourne home in February 2021
Justice Fox said Tan's relationship with Ms Zhang had 'barely commenced' when he murdered her.
'But none-the-less she trusted you, introduced you to her (son) and invited you into her life.'
The court heard Tan murdered Ms Zhang after she began a new relationship with another man.
'You learned she was seeing another man through behaviour that would constitute stalking,' Justice Fox said.
'I am satisfied you took her life because you felt rejected and enraged. Kelly was entitled to feel safe and protected in her home but you killed her in her own bedroom with her young son in a nearby room.'
The court heard Ms Zhang's son now lived with his elderly grandparents where he continued to ask when his mother was coming home.
'The first person you lied to was (her son). You led an eight year old child to believe that his mother had just left without him and vanished, which was simply cruel,' Justice Fox said.
'You were an adult and his mother's friend so (he) trustedly drove around with you on a fictitious search for his mother. You also involved (him) in a sham search of his house where you pretended to look for his mother in different bedrooms.
'The next morning you drove him to school and continued to lie, telling him that his mother had still not returned. By this point you had placed Ms Zhang's body in a bin.'
+6
View gallery
Police later found Tan had Googled 'how many years for killing a person in Australia' soon after dumping his girlfriend's body.
In the days that followed, Tan made several chilling Google searches on his phone, including 'how is stinky garbage disposed of in Australia' and how years for killing in Australia.
Tan's month-long murder trial heard from dozens of witnesses, including Ms Zhang's friends and ex-husband.
The jury was told how Tan met Ms Zhang online in early 2021 and quickly became infatuated with her and and referred to her as his wife.
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'.
