Zhaoyun Wang came to Australia hoping his future would be with the woman he loved, but instead he'll spend at least 15 years in jail after being sentenced over her brutal murder.
The Chinese lawyer, 33, was in a blind rage when he savagely hacked Shan Wu with a meat cleaver in a harrowing attack that ended with the blade embedded in her throat, Justice Richard Button told the NSW Supreme Court.
The February 2013 assault was so violent and devastating that Ms Wu's grandmother hadn't been told what happened.
"Granny asks everyday why her beloved granddaughter has stopped calling her," her father said in a victim impact statement last month.
"We have tried all the excuses, as granny became puzzled, confused and eventually upset.
"We had no choice but to pretend to be ignorant of the true reason and try to humour her, blaming the girl who is lying in earth at Macquarie Park cemetery in Sydney for being inconsiderate."
Wang met Ms Wu in Beijing in late 2011 and they lived together before she moved to Newcastle in May 2012 to work as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers.
On February 24 2013, Ms Wu met Wang at Sydney Airport and they made their way back to her home.
They had sex, went sightseeing and cooked dinner together.
But at about 8pm, Ms Wu said she wanted to go out with another man, who Wang knew she had slept with.
He stayed at her home with a headache and when she returned after going for a walk with the man, they began fighting.
"She criticised him for being too soft and not strong enough," according to court documents.
Wang knew his relationship was in trouble when he emigrated but Ms Wu told him that night that "maybe (her) heart has changed".
They both went to sleep but woke up later and began arguing again about 3am.
"She told (Wang) referring to the man...'how good it was when she would be with him' and that `when I am with you it is no good," court documents say.
While the pair were arguing, Wang began pacing and fetched a meat cleaver from the kitchen.
He then snapped, hacking her with the cleaver and leaving more than 60 wounds.
Wang showered, called triple-0 and admitted killing Ms Wu.
"I was so angry she betrayed me. She slept with another man and I killed her with a knife," he told the operator.
"(The knife) is actually in her neck - it's (a) very horrible thing to see."
Wang will stay behind bars until at least February 2028.
Share
