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The mother of a murdered woman whose body was dumped in a tip had to be carried from court after collapsing while revealing the torment her family now lives with.
Ju “Kelly” Zhang’s mother, Renqun Li, turned to face her daughter’s killer in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, pointing and yelling “you bastard” in Mandarin before collapsing and struggling to breathe.
Ju Zhang was murdered by Joon Seong Tan (top right) at her home in Epping in February 2021. Bottom right: The search for Zhang ’s body.Credit: Nine News; Supplied
Li had just explained how the family had been left emotionally and financially bereft after rushing from China to Australia following the stabbing to care for Zhang’s eight-year-old son Jack, who still struggles to understand his mother is gone.
“Our family is still immersed in unspeakable grief … especially our grandson. He still often calls his mother in his sleep,” she said using a Mandarin interpreter.
“We hope that in the end justice will prevail over evil.”
A jury last month found Joon Seong Tan guilty of murdering 33-year-old Zhang at her home in Epping shortly after they shared dinner with Jack on February 2, 2021.
Joon Seong Tan arrives at the Supreme Court on Wednesday.Credit: Nine
The jury was told that the following day Tan, a 38-year-old Malaysian national, took the child to school before placing Zhang’s body in a wheelie bin at Heidelberg Heights and watching as a rubbish truck took it away.
He then researched phrases online including “how many years for killing a person in Australia” and “how is stinky garbage disposed in Australia”.
At the time, Tan claimed his new girlfriend had vanished from her home wearing a pink nightgown. He was later arrested attempting to board a flight out of Victoria.
The mother’s remains were discovered at a Wollert landfill site in June 2021, on the fourth day of an extensive search.
Joon Seong Tan in a police interview after his arrest
In victim impact statements read to the court, Zhang’s family called for Justice Amanda Fox to impose a significant penalty on their daughter’s killer in the hope it plants a “seed of fairness and justice” in the heart of a young child left without his mother’s love.
The victim’s father, Xiaoyou Zhang, told the court in a written statement his family had spent two years in Australia unable to work and forced to live off the donations of others to support their grandson.
Zhang, he said, was their only child and had represented their entire future.
“There is no one to call us mum or dad any more. It’s agonising,” he wrote.
“We have to live with debilitating grief and loss for the rest of our lives, so does our grandson. This breaks our hearts.
“Sometimes we look around through the windows and the front door and wishing with all our hearts she’d reappear as suddenly as she disappeared. She was too young to die.”
The court heard the victim’s family, from a poor mountain village in south-east China, had been unable to afford to bury Zhang or hold a funeral until December 2021 – six months after her remains were found.
Zhang’s nine-year-old son wrote of a life filled with fear.
Joon Seong Tan and Ju Zhang.
“I’m so afraid I can’t sleep every night, I cry alone,” Jack wrote. “I dream of my mum, but when I wake up, she is not there. Every day I ask Grandma where Mum has gone, when she will come back?”
Among other who read victim impact statements were Hanson Landfill workers who helped in the efforts to find Zhang’s remains.
Former landfill manager Harry Taylor said the search, in muddy conditions, was terribly challenging as four months had passed since the bin arrived. The team, he said, used satellite technology to localise the search site.
Armed with a photograph of Zhang in a pink dressing gown, his team searched for four days in pouring rain to find answers for her son. “Kelly, we did our best for you. It turns out our best was good enough,” he sobbed.
Tip worker Harry Taylor said the search was challenging.Credit: AAP
Tip colleague Chris Smith said he had seen a lot of trauma in his life, but nothing to equal this.
Motivated by the knowledge little Jack was asking police if they had found his mummy each time they visited, he said his team did not want to let anyone down.
“As a dad I struggled with that thought. I remember a feeling of satisfaction when Ju was located. But now that answer for a young son would be yes. I was gutted for those having to deliver that message.”
Chris Smith, from Wollert tip operator Hanson, told the court his team had been desperate to help.Credit: Justin McManus
Excavator operator Steve Anderson, who also assisted in the search, said the memory of Zhang’s porcelain-doll-like hand among a mountain of rubbish had never left his mind.
He noted the lead detective who, in the pouring rain, battled to keep Zhang dry. “The care and compassion she showed still brings me to tears.”
Tan will return to court to be sentenced at a later date.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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