After allegedly murdering his girlfriend of a month, Joon Seong Tan allegedly dumped her body in a wheelie bin and watched as a garbage truck collected her remains, a jury has been told.
Ju “Kelly” Zhang was last seen alive by her eight-year-old son while wearing a pink nightgown watching something on her laptop on her bed.
They’d just had a dinner of lamb chops and chicken soup, and Zhang had saved a plate for a man named Eric, who she had been seeing after connecting on WeChat.
She told a friend she liked that man better than Tan, who she had met online about a month earlier.
Tan was at her house that night and shared dinner with her and her son.
But while she had reportedly soured on the relationship, he was keen on her and referred to her as his “wife” in conversations with friends, jurors in his murder trial have been told.
Tan has pleaded not guilty to a charge alleging he murdered Zhang just after 6pm on 2 February 2021 after an argument about her seeing someone else.
“She was subjected to what the evidence showed is a sustained, deliberate sharp force assault including at least one stab to the area of the heart,” prosecutor Jeremy McWilliam said.
McWilliam said the lies Tan allegedly told, the lengths to cover up her death and his involvement in it, and his attempt to flee were all pieces of a puzzle from which a clear picture emerges.
It is alleged Tan asked a friend to come to Zhang’s home in the Melbourne suburb of Epping on the night of her death, and told him they had argued and fought, and he killed her accidentally before cleaning up and putting her body in a laundry cupboard.
Tan allegedly moved her body into a wheelie bin and drove to Heidelberg West and placed the bin with others out for collection.
The following morning, after driving Zhang’s son to school, Tan allegedly returned and watch the garbage truck empty the bin, before returning it to Zhang’s home.
Tan allegedly then called her close friend to tell her she was missing and the two, along with Zhang’s former husband, reported her missing to police.
In a statement to officers, Tan said Zhang had gone out in her pyjamas and slippers, taking her mobile phone and nothing else at about 6pm.
Zhang’s body was discovered by police during a search of landfill at Wollert in June 2021.
Tan’s barrister, Greg Hughan, said Tan disputed the prosecution case.
“He maintains Ms Zhang left the home about 6pm and did not return, and he tried to find her,” he said.
He denied Tan had put Zhang’s body in a bin and taken it to Heidelberg West.
Tan was arrested and released by police after being interviewed on 6 February 2021.
Tan later made arrangements to meet officers at his home but did not show up. Tan was arrested at Melbourne airport on 10 February.
The supreme court trial before justice Mandy Fox is expected to run for four weeks.
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