Chinese woman Cai Xia Liao murdered lover’s wife, grandson
A CHINESE woman who murdered her lover's wife and grandson was driven by a desire for Australian citizenship.
A CHINESE woman who murdered her lover’s wife and grandson was driven by a desire for Australian citizenship.
Cai Xia Liao, 45, wept uncontrollably as details of her horrific crime were detailed to the Supreme Court this morning.
Liao drugged and then bound her lover Giangwa “Brian” Mach — who had presented her with a wedding ring and promised to leave his wife — on March 31 this year before going on a horrific killing spree with a pair of garden shears.
She stabbed four-year-old Alistair Kwong to death with garden shears and then waited 10 hours for his grandmother Mai Mach — her love rival — to come home before murdering her as well.
Liao, 45, began a three-year relationship with Australian Giangwa “Brian” Mach when he was separated from his wife in 2011.
Mr Mach broke off the relationship and returned to his wife, but kept in contact with his former lover.
Prosecutor Mark Rochford QC said the murder was planned and Liao had threatened to murder Mai if Mr Mach did not leave his wife.
“If she doesn’t die they'll be big issues,” Liao said over the social media site WeChat.
“I'll come and kill her if she stays like this..... I'm going to the supermarket to buy a few big knives.”
Before the murder, Liao offered to pay Mr Mach to marry her.
“She offered to pay him to marry her so she could get Australian citizenship,” Mr Rochford said.
Mr Mach's surviving family no longer speak to him and he has been assaulted by his son-in-law's father as a result of the murders.
“I met someone I never should have met,” Mr Mach said in a victim impact statement.
Public defender David Gibson said Liao was a successful business woman in China who had escaped her impoverished childhood.
Mr Gibson said Liao developed mental health problems after her first husband was killed in a car accident.
But because mental health problems carry a stigma in China, she had not sought treatment.
Liao began using ice to deal with the trauma of her breakup with Mr Mach, but Mr Gibson said the drug did not fuel the murders.
Mr Gibson said although Liao wanted to live in Australia, the relationship breakdown was the key driver of the murders.
Liao will be sentenced by Justice Lex Lasry on a date to be fixed.
Originally published as Chinese woman Cai Xia Liao murdered lover’s wife, grandson