Student's sentence for killing two Melbourne sex workers 'unjust'

A nine-year prison term for a man who killed two Asian migrant sex workers within 24 hours shows that the justice system values their lives less than others, advocates say.

Chinese student Xiaozheng Lin, 24, could walk from jail in seven years with time already served after he pleaded guilty to two manslaughter charges.

He was due to face a double murder trial in August over the deaths of Yuqi Luo, 31, and Hyun Sook Jeon, 51, but prosecutors accepted his plea to the downgraded charges about a month before trial.

The women, migrants from China and South Korea, were sex workers who operated out of their apartments in Melbourne.

On Boxing Day 2022, Lin visited a brothel before a friend drove him to Luo's La Trobe St apartment.

After having sex, in the early hours of December 27, he requested more services from Luo, who told him it would cost another AU$100 (NZ$110.70).

Lin became enraged at this and pushed Luo into the bed, before strangling her until she was gasping for air.

He left her for dead, stealing AU$7000 (NZ$7747.10) in cash along with other personal belongings including her mobile phone, tablet and handbags.

He told his friend he had sex with Luo, robbed and assaulted her after she had bitten his hand, and claimed she was alive when he left.

Later on December 27, between 10.15 and 10.45pm, Lin visited Jeon at her Docklands apartment where they had sex before he inflicted another deadly assault.

Lin left about 12.37am, stealing her bank cards, laptop, phone, car and building keys, and caught an Uber home to Huntingdale.

But it is unclear how Jeon died, as by the time an autopsy was performed her body was too decomposed to ascertain a cause of death.

Sentencing Lin today, Justice Stephen Kaye said Lin had killed two vulnerable and defenceless women in their own homes.

An aggravating factor was that he was undeterred from the first assault when he went on to kill Jeon.

"Having assaulted Yuqi Luo in circumstances in which you left her, at least, stricken and gasping for breath … you plainly suffered no pang of conscience," he said.

Lin was silent and kept his head down as Justice Kaye sentenced him to a maximum of 14 years in prison, with a non-parole period of nine years.

He has been in custody since December 2022.

Outside court, former MP and sex work advocate Fiona Patten said Lin's sentence was "extraordinarily unjust and unfair".

"You can't help feeling that, because these women had no family in Australia, because these women were sex workers, because these women were foreign nationals, that the sentence was less than it would have been if it had been me," she told AAP.

"It seems an incredibly small punishment and sentence for such a heinous crime, for two heinous crimes."

Victoria decriminalised sex work in 2022, making it easier for sex workers to report crimes against them.

Patten, a key proponent for the laws, said one of the reasons she fought so hard for decriminalisation was to address violence against sex workers and ensure they were treated fairly.

"This is not going to send that message," Patten said.

Na Mon, an Asian migrant sex worker, said the community was devastated.

"As a sex worker, I feel fearful," she told AAP.

"Are we safe to work in Australia? The system is failing us, not taking our work, our life, our safety seriously."

She said the sentence revealed a "double stigma" within the justice system around sex and migrant workers.

Gia Green, the manager of Victorian sex worker organisation Vixen, said the industry was "horrified and devastated by the lenient sentence".

"We cannot help but feel that the sentencing would be more severe if Yuqi and Hyun were not Asian-migrant sex workers," she said.

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