Source : Perth Now news
A mother has heard an accused murderer admit killing her daughter, detailing how he hit and choked the young woman before her body was found in a metal box.
Rongmei Yan sat silently in court through a recorded police interview in which international student Yang Zhao told daughters he struck her daughter Qiong in the head with a gas canister before choking her.
Qiong Yan’s corpse was found concealed in a large tool box on the balcony of the Brisbane apartment she shared with Zhao almost 10 months after her alleged murder.
“I killed her … she asked me to do it as fast and quick as I can,” Zhao said in the video played to a Supreme Court jury.
“I smashed her head. I wasn’t strong enough.
“She struggled. She asked me to choke her.”
The jury was shown videos of Zhao being arrested on July 19, 2021 and then interviewed by NSW Police in Sydney.
“Are you going to show this to her parents?” the accused killer asked when detectives said the interview was being recorded.
Ms Yan’s mother sat in court as the jury watched the video after finishing giving her own evidence on Wednesday.
She had flown to Brisbane from her home in China for the trial.
Zhao said in the interview that he and Ms Yan had been inhaling nitrous oxide from a metal cream-whipping canister and he later used the same object to hit her.
He claimed they both wanted to die due to having “bad lives” and losing money on investments, but he was too afraid to take his own life after killing Ms Yan.
Zhao, now aged 30, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of migration agency director Ms Yan, 29, in September 2020 at their apartment in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Hamilton.
He has instead pleaded guilty to interfering with Ms Yan’s corpse.
Crown prosecutor Chris Cook previously told the jury Zhao allegedly sent more than 2000 text messages to Ms Yan’s friends and mother, allowing him to steal more than $400,000 of her family’s money after the killing.
Mr Cook earlier pointed to Zhao and asked Ms Yan’s mother if she gave him permission to take her money.
“No,” she said.
The last time Ms Yan contacted her mother via a video call was on September 20, 2020 and after that she received only text messages, the jury heard.
“I only want to video call you,” Rongmei Yan texted to her daughter’s WeChat account on April 12, 2021.
Ms Yan’s mother was sent a brief video in response with a female hand holding her daughter’s cat, Anchun, and a text message stating: “I am fine. I have Anchun taking care of me”.
Ms Yan had allegedly been dead for seven months at that point.
Rongmei Yan broke down crying and wiped her eyes with tissues after watching the cat video in court on Tuesday.
During his police interview, Zhao said he “panicked” before recording the video.
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