{"id":280303,"date":"2025-09-08T14:28:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T04:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=280303"},"modified":"2025-09-08T14:28:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T04:28:38","slug":"man-sentenced-to-14-years-over-killing-of-two-women-could-be-eligible-for-parole-in-seven-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=280303","title":{"rendered":"Man sentenced to 14 years over killing of two women could be eligible for parole in seven years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A man who killed two women in the space of 24 hours could be released from prison in seven years, with a judge describing his crimes as “callous” and “without justification”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiaozheng Lin struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to manslaughter<\/a>, meaning his penalty was significantly lower than if he had been sentenced for the crime of murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday, Justice Stephen Kaye jailed Lin for 14 years with a minimum of nine years. But with time already served, he could be released in late 2031.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lin killed the two sex workers in Melbourne’s CBD in December 2022, attacking the women in their apartments after paying for sex.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Xiaozheng Lin was charged with the murder in December 2022. (Supplied: Victoria Police)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Lin, 24, strangled Yuqi Luo to death in her La Trobe Street apartment early on December 27 and stole about $7,000 cash, handbags and her phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The killer went to Hyun Sook Jeon’s Docklands apartment later that night. She was found dead days later with her body covered with a blanket and towels wrapped around her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pathologists were unable to determine how Ms Jeon died. Last month, Lin’s lawyers said he admitted to violently shaking the 51-year-old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lin stole Ms Jeon’s laptop and bank cards, making transactions to pay phone bills and top up his sports betting account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Kaye said the victims were in their own homes where they were entitled to feel safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge called the killings “callous” and said they occurred “without any justification at all”.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Hyun Sook Jeon was found dead in her Docklands apartment days after her death. (Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

“By your violent and criminal actions you have taken the lives of two fellow human beings, Yuqi Luo and Hyun Sook Jeon,” Justice Kaye said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They were entirely vulnerable and defenceless.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lin entered the court building with his shirt over his head and looked down and cried as the judge’s sentence was relayed to him by an interpreter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Jeon’s husband watched proceedings from the court gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Kaye said the killings had caused devastation for the women’s loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lin was originally charged with two counts of murder, but earlier this year negotiated a deal with prosecutors which enabled him to plead guilty to the lesser offences of manslaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal quickly moved the case through the court system, negating the need for a Supreme Court trial and for witnesses to give evidence. It also meant Lin was able to avoid a murder conviction and a heftier jail term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sentence ‘almost unbelievable’, advocates say <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fiona Patten, a former Victorian MP who spearheaded the campaign to decriminalise sex work in the state, labelled the 14-year maximum sentence for two killings “almost unbelievable”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We decriminalised sex work in this state so that women and sex workers would feel more confident about reporting crime,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Unfortunately, I think this sentence has sent the opposite message to them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Patten questioned whether Lin’s jail sentence would have been longer if the victims came from different walks of life and if there had been a larger public outcry.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Sex worker advocate Na Mon says industry members feel let down by authorities. (ABC News: Nickoles Coleman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Na Mon, a member of the Asian Migrant Sex Worker Advisory Group, said members of the industry were angered by the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The community believes that again, the system has failed us and not seen our occupation as a job,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘”It’s just not taking our lives seriously because we are migrants, we are sex workers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lin was living in Australia on an expired student visa and had mounting gambling debts at the time of the attacks, the court heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Kaye said Lin, who had no previous history of violence, had expressed no remorse for the causing the deaths of Ms Luo and Ms Jeon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You showed them no mercy,” the judge said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You plainly suffered no pang of conscience, nor did you give any thought to the seriousness of the offending.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lin will be deported to China upon his release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABC News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A man who killed two women in the space of 24 hours could be released from prison in seven years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":280307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,921],"tags":[993,11502,8],"class_list":["post-280303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-crime","tag-melbourne","tag-sex-workers","tag-victoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t