A Chinese language student will serve at least 20 years for murdering his former girlfriend and the new man in her life.
Jun Jie Ying, 22, was found guilty of strangling Jia Ye, 20, after a jury at the High Court in Hamilton rejected his claim that her death was part
of a suicide pact.
At the start of the trial in February, Ying admitted killing Ms Ye's new boyfriend, Wen Bin Sun, 20, by inflicting 35 stab wounds in a frenzied assault as Mr Sun slept.
In the High Court in Auckland yesterday, Justice Judith Potter imposed the mandatory sentenceof life imprisonment, and set a minimum non-parole period of 20 years.
Ying was described as being obsessed with Ms Ye, who ended their relationship because of his violence towards her.
Justice Potter agreed with Ying's lawyer, Roger Laybourn, that it was a classic case of the "eternal triangle when it has gone dreadfully, dreadfully wrong".
The jury was told that after Ms Ye moved in with Mr Sun, Ying was unable to accept the break-up of the relationship even after being served with a trespass notice.
He broke into Mr Sun and Ms Ye's home and hid until the couple returned.
When they came home and went to bed he attacked Mr Sun as he slept, causing what prosecutor Louella Dunn described as horrendous and gruesome injuries.
One of his arms was almost severed in the onslaught.
Ying then bound and tied Ms Ye and took her away in his car.
Justice Potter said it was difficult to imagine the terror of the young woman as Ying subjected her to prolonged violence.
After trying unsuccessfully to throttle her with his hands, he strangled her with a belt and a rope.
Ying then propped up the dead woman in the back seat of the car with the seatbelt on to make it look as though she was still alive.
Ms Dunn said Ms Ye's body started to decompose as Ying drove around with her in that position, and he put her in the boot.
In the probation report, Ying was quoted as saying that if he had committed the murders in his native China, he would have been executed.
