Jealous boyfriend guilty of young mum’s murder

The jealous boyfriend of a young mother whose body was found at a Wollert rubbish tip has been found guilty of her murder.

The jealous boyfriend of Ju “Kelly” Zhang is facing decades behind bars after he was found guilty of her murder.

Joon “Sam” Seong Tan was on Wednesday convicted of the murder of Ms Zhang, 33, whose body was found in a Wollert rubbish tip four months after she disappeared from her Epping home.

Tan maintained the single mother went for a walk and never returned but it took a 12-person Supreme Court jury less than a day of deliberations to reject his lies and find him guilty.

Tan sat emotionless in the dock as the jury delivered its verdict.

Wearing a suit, white shirt and blue tie, he looked straight ahead as he learned his fate via a translator.

Doncaster man Joon Seong Tan has been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend.

Ms Zhang met Tan online a month before he killed her.

The nearly four-week long trial heard from dozens of witnesses including Ms Zhang’s friends and ex-husband, as well as Tan’s housemate who was asked by the killer to help dispose of her remains.

Jurors were told Tan met Ms Zhang online just a month before her murder and quickly became “infatuated” with her and referred to her as his wife.

But the feelings were not reciprocated, with close friend Xiaolei “Shelley” Chi saying Ms Zhang wanted to break up with Tan but would still keep him around for his money.

Tan told a friend he thought Ms Zhang was cheating on him, that he would put a tracking device on her car, and that he would kill her if he caught her in the act.

The house where Epping mum Ju ‘Kelly’ Zhang lived before she was murdered. Picture: David Crosling

Days before her murder, Ms Zhang began seeing another man named Eric, who she had met online and told friends she liked him more than Tan.

On the evening of January 31, 2021, Tan drove to Ms Zhang’s home and saw Eric’s red Mercedes parked in the carport.

He returned the following day where he had dinner with Ms Zhang and her eight-year-old son. The pair argued around 6pm, before Tan fatally stabbed Ms Zhang while she sat on her bed and while her son was in another room.

After killing her, Tan called his housemate, known as Mr Chan, asking him to come to the address because there was an “emergency”.

When he arrived, Tan told Mr Chan he had argued with his girlfriend because she had brought another man into the home.

“He said ... he was so angry that he lost his mind, and he killed his girlfriend,” Mr Chan told the jury through a Cantonese interpreter.

Tan told him he had stuffed Ms Zhang’s body in a laundry cupboard and asked for help disposing of it.

“I was very scared that he may also kill me, so I just sat there, listened quietly,” he said.

Tan asked Mr Chan to go onto the street and find a rubbish bin which he would use to dispose of Ms Zhang’s body after her son had gone to sleep.

Tan initially told detectives and the media that Ms Zhang had gone for a walk and never returned. Picture: Josie Hayden

Mr Chan instead ran to Epping train station before travelling into the city to avoid going back to the home he shared with Tan.

Tan called his housemate more than 50 times over the following hours but none were picked up. 

With his housemate gone, Tan retrieved the garbage bin himself before wrapping Ms Zhang’s body in a bed sheet and dumping it inside.

He drove the bin to Heidelberg where he placed it on the street before returning the following morning to watch it be collected.

Ms Zhang’s body was found four months later in Wollert rubbish tip wrapped in a blanket and wearing a pink dressing gown.

In the days after her death, Tan searched online “how many years for killing a person in Australia” and “how is stinky garbage disposed in Australia?”.

He also called Ms Zhang’s friend telling her she was missing before they and her ex-husband went to police to report her disappearance.

He told officers he had seen Ms Zhang leave her home with her mobile phone about 6pm wearing pyjamas and slippers.

But by February 5, Mr Tan was a suspect and he was interviewed where he maintained she had walked out and not come back.

He was released pending further investigation before he was arrested three days later at Melbourne Airport trying to board a flight to Adelaide.

Tan, who is in custody, will return to the Supreme Court for a pre-sentence hearing on June 7.