Chinese student Xiaozheng Lin who killed two sex workers in Melbourne CBD gets manslaughter deal
A Chinese student who killed two sex workers in Melbourne CBD apartments in less than 24 hours has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after murder charges were dropped.
Victoria
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A student admitted killing and robbing two sex workers in Melbourne’s CBD in the space of 24 hours after he struck a plea deal to avoid a murder conviction.
The Herald Sun can reveal Xiaozheng Lin, 24, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Yuqi Luo, 31, and Hyun Sook Jeon, 51, after a suppression order prohibiting details about the case being published was lifted.
Both women were killed during the Christmas period in 2022, with Ms Luo found dead in her La Trobe Street apartment while Ms Jeon’s body was found in her unit on Waterside Place in Docklands.
Ms Luo was strangled to death but Ms Jeon’s remains were decomposed and a cause of death could not be determined.
Initially charged with murder, Lin reached a deal with prosecutors and admitted to the lesser charges a month before he was due to stand trial.
Seated in the dock beside a Mandarin interpreter, the Chinese student kept his head bowed as details about his horror crimes were revealed at a pre-sentence hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday.
The court heard Lin booked Ms Luo in response to an internet ad before he was dropped off by a friend at her apartment just after midnight on December 27.
He had earlier visited a brothel in Oakleigh South and told his friend he’d lost money at the TAB and was planning to rob a sex worker.
The pair had sex before Lin asked for oral sex which Ms Luo refused without further payment, leading to an argument.
Lin wrapped his arm around his victim’s head, pressing her into the bed and telling her not to yell.
He later told police Ms Luo made him feel humiliated and he was under the influence of alcohol.
“We started to argue. I controlled her with my hands but what happened next is completely forgotten. But I did bring her under control with force,” he said.
After the assault, Lin had a shower before he stole about $7000 cash, her phone, a tablet and designer handbags.
While he admitted attacking her, Lin claimed Ms Luo was still alive when he left the apartment.
He was dropped at his Huntingdale home by his friend who had been waiting in his car outside.
The court heard Ms Luo’s body was found that evening after she failed to respond to her booking agent’s phone calls and texts.
About 10.45pm that night, less than 24 hours after he killed Ms Luo, Lin went to Ms Jeon’s Docklands apartment.
They had sex before, at some point, prosecutors said he committed an “unlawful and dangerous” act which killed Ms Jeon.
Lin stole her laptop, phone, bank cards, car and building keys and other personal items before catching an Uber back home.
He spent about $3000 of her money on online sports betting, at an Asian market and to clear phone bills.
Ms Jeon’s body was discovered by homicide squad detectives three days after her death, with an autopsy unable to determine a cause of death due to the state of decomposition.
Lin was arrested on December 29 after he was linked to Ms Luo’s death through CCTV footage.
Ms Jeon’s body was found the following day.
In a victim impact statement read out on his behalf, Ms Luo’s father Luo Bo said the death of his daughter had caused irreparable damage.
“Her young life was cut short in an extremely brutal way by a criminal,” he said.
“I was in agony and couldn’t face this cruel reality.”
Mr Bo lives in rural China and said his family had been left in poverty as their daughter was the sole financial contributor.
Ms Jeon was born in South Korea before she moved to Melbourne in 2013.
Her husband submitted a victim impact statement which was not read out in open court.
In his submissions, Lin’s barrister Paul Smallwood conceded his client’s offending was very serious and the case was without precedent.
“In one view it’s extraordinary that a 22-year-old kills two women,” he said.
“Two women in circumstances where he has no previous criminal history and no history of violence at all.”
Lin refused to tell police how Ms Jeon died, but Mr Smallwood said his client admitted seriously shaking her during the attack.
The barrister said Lin moved to Melbourne from China to study English at a language college in Melbourne’s CBD.
But he was gambling addict and spent most of his money on betting apps.
He also never had a girlfriend and was self-conscious about a limp resulting from a basketball injury.
“Because of that his sexual outlet after his arrival in Australia was the engagement of sex workers,” Mr Smallwood said.
A suppression order prohibiting publishing details about the case was revoked in July after Lin entered a guilty plea.
Lin, who has spent nearly two years on remand and is held in protective custody, will be sentenced next month.
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