The Hunan woman who was a victim of rape, found naked inside an abandoned suitcase in a Hunan park – despite her harrowing experience – is still “lucky” because her alleged rapist, the woman’s roommate, spared her life.
Michelle Leng, a 25-year-old migrant who left China in 2011 and studied business at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, was not as lucky. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that her body was found floating face-down in the Snapper Point blowhole in the Lake Munmorah national park on April 24.
Leng, who was also studying at the Sydney Institute of Interpreting and Translation, was naked, bound and gagged when her corpse was discovered. The suspect, the husband of her aunt, allegedly stabbed Leng over 30 times and threw her body at the blowhole in New South Wales.
ABC reported that 27-year-old Australian man Derek Barrett – married to the victim’s aunt – was charged on Wednesday before the Burwood Local Court and remains detained. He was initially charged with five counts of committing an act of indecency and 17 counts of filming a person’s private parts without consent which the former IT worker committed against another woman and Leng.
On June 29, another 27 charges were filed against Barrett, including detaining a person for advantage. The lawyer of the Newscastle-based suspect said in April that Barrett would not plead guilty to the murder charge. Leng used to live with the couple in their home in Campsie.
Police linked Barrett to the crime after they found his mobile phone which had images of Leng bound with duct tape on her wrists and across her mouth. He was also captured in CCTV footage driving his car into the national park at 7 a.m. on April 24. After three and a half hours, police found Leng’s body in the park.