A Melbourne grandmother who killed her daughter-in-law with more than 30 hammer blows should have her prison term cut because she fears being deported to China, her barrister says.
Huajiao Zhuang, 50, ended a simmering family feud by repeatedly striking 21-year-old Dan "Selina" Lin with a hammer, as her infant grandson watched on.
Zhuang claimed she acted in self-defence but a jury in May convicted her of the 2012 murder.
Zhuang's barrister Shane Gardner told Victorian Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kaye her prison term should be reduced due to the uncertainty over her deportation upon release.
Zhuang is a Chinese national but has been living as a permanent resident in Australia since 2010.
Despite murdering her son's wife, she remains in contact with her daughters and their children, who emigrated to Australia.
Mr Gardner said the threat of permanent separation from them weighed heavily on her.
Zhuang began arguing with her daughter-in-law while Ms Lin bathed her young son at her Bundoora home.
When the argument erupted into violence, Zhuang struck Ms Lin at least 33 times to the head and body with a hammer, with her child just metres away.
Zhuang's trial was told that she wanted her son, Rong Ping "Peter" Zhuang, to divorce Ms Lin and marry a woman from China so he could earn thousands from the woman's family, thanks to his permanent Australian residency.
Zhuang had also been insulted and upset that Ms Lin had limited her access to her grandson.
Prosecutor Justin Lewis told Justice Kaye the killing was driven by rage, not self-defence.
"This was a brutal killing, carried out in the presence of the child of the victim," he said on Friday.
But he conceded the attack was not premeditated.
"It's not an example of the worst or near worst type of murder," he said.
Mr Gardner said psychologist reports showed Zhuang, of Reservoir, was of low intelligence and suffered from a major depressive disorder.
Zhuang grew up in poverty in China and gave birth to Peter in a pigpen because of the country's one-child policy.
Justice Kaye adjourned Zhuang's plea hearing for a week so Mr Gardner could obtain details on the likelihood of her deportation from the immigration minister.
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