Student kills two women in 24 hours

A Chinese national who robbed and killed two women within 24 hours had recently arrived in Australia hoping for “better prospects”, a court has been told.

Xiaozheng Lin, 24, returned before the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday after pleading guilty to two counts of manslaughter.

He was assisted by a Mandarin interpreter, with barrister Paul Smallwood telling the court that Lin had only a rudimentary understanding and capacity to speak English.

The then 22-year-old was arrested two days after Yuqi Luo, 31, was found dead in her Melbourne CBD apartment on December 27, 2022.

The body of Hyun Sook Jeon, 51, was found decomposed the following day on December 30 in a Docklands unit.

The court was told Lin had given detectives an account of the events surrounding Ms Lou’s death but provided “no insights” into how or why Ms Jeon was killed.

Ms Lou, a sex worker, was strangled by Lin after fighting back when he attended her home to rob her.

He stole about $7000 cash, her phone, a tablet and designer handbags but claimed to police she was still alive when he left.

Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill told the court that by his guilty plea, Lin had accepted he caused the deaths of the two women within 24 hours.

“He stole from them, left them in positions with no regards for their safety of dignity,” she said.

“These assaults were entirely unprovoked; on women who were physically smaller than him.”

Mr Smallwood told the court that his client accepted the offending was serious but did not know the women had died when he left.

He said Lin had emigrated to Australia on a now expired tourist visa to study English and it was “inevitable” he would be deported once his sentence ended.

“He came to Australia in circumstances where he and his family had hopes for better prospects and now those prospects are extinguished,” Mr Smallwood said.

Mr Smallwood said Lin had never had a girlfriend and began to engage sex workers after arriving in Australia.

Justice Stephen Kaye adjourned sentencing, saying he hoped to hand down a sentence in the next two weeks.