A man who killed his ex-lover and her new boyfriend will spend at least the next 20 years in jail.
Jun Jie Ying, a 22-year-old Chinese student, was jailed for life with a non-parole period of 20 years in the High Court in Auckland today on two charges of murder.
Justice Judith
Potter said the case was an example of the eternal triangle "when it has gone dreadfully, dreadfully wrong".
"It is particularly difficult to imagine the terror of that young girl as the prisoner subjected her to the violence necessary to strangle her after unsuccessfully attempting to use his own hands."
She was referring to the killing of Jia Ye, 20, who died in a Hamilton park after Ying put a belt around her neck and strangled her.
In May, he admitted the murder of Webin Sun, 20, and was found guilty of the murder of Miss Ye by a High Court jury in Hamilton in February.
Ying called no evidence.
During the trial the jury was told about the couple's violent relationship. Ying frequently threw things at his girlfriend, beat her and yelled at her.
The jury was told she was not a "robust" young woman who could look after herself and needed friends to protect her.
Ying told police in a video interview she had begged to die.
She was sad, remorseful, full of hopelessness and "pleaded" with him to "strangle me to death" he said in the interview, shown to the jury.
"She said if I were to kill myself she would die with me. She asked me to kill her first," he said on videotaped evidence played to the jury.
The court was also told Miss Ye sat in the front passenger seat and Ying sat behind in the back and strangled her before trying to kill himself with a knife and hang himself.
After driving to Auckland and getting drunk he moved Miss Ye's body from the back seat into the boot.
- NZPA
