‘Callous’ killer jailed for murder of Epping mum

A judge has blasted the unremorseful killer of Epping mother Ju “Kelly” Zhang for “literally treating her like garbage” as she sentenced him to jail.

A judge says the last-minute confession by Joon Seong Tan to the murder of his new girlfriend is “self-serving” and not a sign of remorse.

Tan, 38, was on Friday jailed for 28 years with a non-parole period of 23 years after he was found guilty of murdering young mother Ju “Kelly” Zhang, 33, inside her Epping home before dumping her body in a wheelie bin that was taken to a rubbish tip.

For two years, Tan claimed Ms Zhang walked out and did not come back but he admitted killing her after coming face-to-face with her distraught parents during a pre-sentence hearing last month.

Tan claimed they had been arguing about living with his children before Ms Zhang picked up a kitchen knife that was left on her bedside table.

He claimed he grabbed the knife off her before stabbing her.

Ju ‘Kelly’ Zhang was murdered in her Epping home.

Joon Seong Tan has been sentenced to at least 23 years in jail.

But in her sentencing remarks, Supreme Court Justice Amanda Fox said she did not accept

Tan’s version of events, finding they were “self-serving” and used to disavow responsibility for what he had done.

“You took her life because you felt rejected and enraged,” she said.

“All your actions were taken with the single selfish aim of protecting yourself and escaping punishment.”

She added the confession, which came after a nearly month-long trial, did nothing to facilitate the course of justice and she did not consider it to be evidence of remorse.

Tan murdered Ms Zhang, who had been seeing him for only a month and wanted to break up, during an argument about her seeing other men in February 2021.

He stabbed her to death in the bedroom of her Epping home while her eight-year-old son Jack was in another room, before dumping her body in a wheelie bin that was left for collection on a street 10km away.

Her body was found at Wollert tip four months later.

Justice Fox said Tan’s treatment of Ms Zhang’s body was “callous and disgraceful”.

“You literally treated her like she was garbage,” she said.

The judge described Joon Seong Tan’s treatment of Ms Zhang’s body as ‘callous and disgraceful’. Picture: Josie Hayden

She said it was particularly “cruel” that Tan, after killing Ms Zhang, drove around the neighbourhood with her son pretending to look for his “missing” mother.

“(Her family) are still immersed in unspeakable grief and Jack often still calls for his mother in his sleep,” she said.

Justice Fox said it was troubling that Tan had become so jealous and possessive that he was driven to murder someone he had only met a month earlier.

She said it was “all too frequent” that jealous, aggrieved men were jailed for killing their partners.

The court heard Ms Zhang’s parents, who were seated in the public gallery, had been forced to sell their business in China and were left financially destitute as they waited for Tan’s legal proceedings to conclude.

“The impacts on the victims in this matter have been profound and enduring,” Justice Fox said.

Wearing a suit, Tan showed little emotion from the dock as Justice Fox’s sentence remarks were translated to him in Mandarin.

With time served, he will be eligible for parole in 2044 before he will likely be deported.

A fundraiser set up to help support Ms Zhang’s young son has so far raised $12,000.