Immediately after killing his girlfriend of one month in a jealous rage, Joon Seong Tan began trying to cover up his tracks.
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He put her body in a laundry cupboard, washed and dried her bed sheets, made the bed and got rid of the murder weapon.
He turned off her phone and called it so there was a record of missed calls, to make it look like she had left him.
He lied to her family and friends, including the woman's eight-year-old son who was in another room when she was murdered.
He figured out it was bin night in Melbourne's northeast, threw her lifeless body in a wheelie bin and watched a garbage truck take her away.
When police became suspicious and discovered incriminating internet searches on his phone, he was found at Melbourne Airport trying to flee.
Even though they had only been dating for weeks, Tan quickly became proprietorial over Ju 'Kelly' Zhang.
He believed the 33-year-old woman was cheating on him with other men and, when faced with rejection, he became capable of murder.
Tan stabbed Ms Zhang six times in the bedroom of her Epping home in February 2021 and dumped her body in a wheelie bin in Heidelberg West.
It took police four-and-a-half months to find her, inside landfill.
Justice Amanda Fox said Tan's attempts to cover up the murder were "deliberate" and "calculated" as he jailed the 38-year-old man for up to 28 years on Friday.
"Your attempts to hide your crime commenced as soon as you had killed Ms Zhang and all your actions were taken with the single selfish aim of protecting yourself and escaping punishment," she told the Supreme Court in Melbourne.
"You systematically and dispassionately cleaned the scene, disposed of Ms Zhang's body, ensured her phone was never found, lied to Ms Zhang's friends, lied to and then avoided police, and attempted to leave the jurisdiction."
It was Ms Zhang's right to feel safe in her home, to stop seeing Tan if she wished, or leave him altogether, yet after just one month he killed her out of "jealousy and anger", the judge said.
"This court is frequently faced with sentencing male offenders who kill their partner or former partner because they are angry, jealous, rejected or aggrieved in some way.
"Murder in these circumstances is a serious crime."
Tan had denied he killed Ms Zhang for years, only admitting it last month at a pre-sentence hearing after a jury had found him guilty of murder.
"It seems you were moved by hearing first-hand how much pain and suffering you have caused, which at this late stage is not much, but it is something," Justice Fox said.
He must serve at least 23 years before he will be eligible for parole and has already spent two years and four months in prison.
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Australian Associated Press
