Speaking to the court via a translator, Rongmei Yan said she had been living in an “abyss-like” state every day since her daughter’s body was discovered.
Loading
Posing as his flatmate, Zhao sent more than 2500 WeChat messages to her mother to steal more than half a million dollars.
“I feel sorry that all those days that the person I’ve been talking to was not my daughter … at the time she had already become a skeleton,” Rongmei Yan said.
“Zhao Yang deliberately deceived my daughter to gain my trust and under false pretences defraud her and my family of our prized assets … taken through vile and deceitful means.”
Zhao spent three days giving evidence at the trial, claiming Yan died accidentally after they had both spent up to four hours in the apartment inhaling nitrous oxide, which he referred to as “nangs”.
Zhao, a Chinese national living in Australia on a student visa, testified Yan passed out on the floor and stopped breathing while he was asleep on a nearby couch.
He claimed he hid her body because he was afraid of being charged with supplying drugs.
Zhao said he then unlocked her phone and impersonated her for months via text messages to her mother.
Qiong Yan was also a Chinese national and was the director of a migration agency.
Zhao admitted later drinking alcohol, inhaling “nangs” and having sex in the apartment metres from where her body was located on the balcony.
The jury heard Zhao claim his detailed accounts to police after his arrest in July 2021 were based on thoughts he had while intoxicated, which he combined with “movies and TV dramas”.
Zhao will be sentenced on Tuesday by Justice Martin Burns, with murder carrying a mandatory life sentence in Queensland.
AAP
Read the full article here
