Jingai Zhang: How Tobias Pick killed ‘caring’ sex worker

A backpacker and a Tasmanian woman were engaged in consensual erotic asphyxiation when he accidentally choked her to death, a court has heard as the man learned his fate for his crime.

Slain Launceston sex worker Jingai Zhang (right), 49, depicted with her mother. Picture: Facebook

A German backpacker and a married Launceston sex worker of Chinese descent were having consensual sex when he used her dress as a ligature and accidentally choked her to death, before fleeing in possession of her phone and nearly $2500.

Jingai Zhang, 49, who had been married to David Simmons for eight years, died on the evening of December 26, 2020, inside the 191 Wellington St residence she used to conduct her business as a sex worker.

She was choked to death by German backpacker Tobias Pick, 27, who was arrested at Lilydale Falls two days after he fled the scene, taking her mobile phone, which he threw in the North Esk River, and $2400 cash.

He was initially charged with murder but subsequently pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

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The court heard Pick had been travelling Australia with his girlfriend for about 14 months prior to Ms Zhang’s death.

He had paid for her services once previously, the court was told, during which she had requested he erotically asphyxiate her. Defence lawyer Olivia Jenkins said he had never engaged in this act before and declined to do so on this initial occasion.

Pick went to see Ms Zhang again on December 26 after fighting with his girlfriend, the court was told.

They began having sex – Ms Zhang’s boyfriend (not Mr Simmons) was in another room, watching television with headphones on so he couldn’t hear the liaison – and Pick choked Ms Zhang with his hand at her request, the court was told.

Slain Launceston sex worker Jingai Zhang (right), 49, depicted with her mother. Picture: Facebook

They then entered a different position, so that Pick was behind Ms Zhang, and she handed him her bunched up dress to use as a ligature.

“He didn’t realise she was struggling to breathe,” Ms Jenkins said.

Her client “greatly regrets” fleeing without hailing assistance for Ms Zhang.

Ms Zhang’s boyfriend discovered her body after her appointment with Pick went overtime.

Ms Jenkins told the court her client had worked variously as a boilermaker, painter, fruit picker and social worker. He completed the equivalent of Year 10 in his native Germany and spent three months in a mental hospital for severe depression at age 24.

Slain Launceston sex worker Jingai Zhang, 49. Picture: Facebook

She told the court her client wanted to devote the rest of his life to helping others, to make up for the damage he had caused.

Pick was sentenced to five years’ jail, which was backdated to December 28, 2020.

He will be eligible for parole in June 2023.

‘WE USED TO SPEAK EVERY NIGHT ON THE PHONE’

The court was told Ms Zhang’s husband Mr Simmons did not know she was engaging in sex work, nor that she had another boyfriend.

He described his wife of eight years as “kind, caring, always worrying about others”.

“Everyone loved her, from the grandkids to the guys at the workshop,” Mr Simmons said in a victim impact statement read to the court by the Crown prosecutor.

Ms Zhang had a biological son, sisters, parents and grandparents in her native China, he said. She visited them regularly.

David Simmons and his slain wife Jingai Zhang, 49. Picture: Facebook

Mr Simmons said he saw Ms Zhang the day before her death – Christmas Day.

All the pictures of their last day together were on the phone that was lobbed into the North Esk’s turbid depths. “I can never get those days back,” he said.

“We used to speak every night on phone, for eight years that was our routine. Our chats were gone in a blink,” Mr Simmons said.

“We didn’t have a chance to chat that day, I’ve always wondered if I had’ve jumped in my car and gone and checked on her, whether she would have still been alive.

“I still can’t bring myself to delete her number.”