The mother of a teenage boy who was stomped and kicked to death in a Melbourne laneway has said her only motivation to live is to see justice for her son.
Jeremy Hu, 19, who was said to have ‘a heart of gold’, was beaten by Shengliang Wan during a late-night fight in the city’s Chinatown in April 2016, the Supreme Court of Victoria has been told.
‘Life has been a torture for us,’ Mr Hu’s mother, Liping Yuan, said in a statement read to the court on Friday. No matter how hard we call him, our child can no longer hear us.’
‘Life has been a torture for us,’ Mr Hu’s mother, Liping Yuan (pictured), said in a statement read to the court on Friday. No matter how hard we call him, our child can no longer hear us’
Jeremy Hu, 19 (pictured), who was said to have ‘a heart of gold’, was beaten by Shengliang Wan during a late-night fight in the city’s Chinatown in April 2016, the Supreme Court of Victoria has been told
Mr Hu suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, dying in hospital after the brawl that was triggered because a friend of Wan’s became jealous over a girl, the court was told
There was an initial altercation between Mr Hu and Wan’s friend, but Wan, 24, began attacking the teenager after his friend complained of an injury
Shouting across the court room at Wan in Mandarin, according to 9News, she said: ‘A life for a life – murder is a death penalty in China.’
Mr Hu, a Yarra Valley Grammar student, was bright and handsome, and enjoyed basketball and piano, she said.
His parents, who are from China, had made arrangements to join him in Australia, but were forced to leave suddenly when he died, leading to the liquidation of their assets and near-bankruptcy, Ms Yuan said.
‘This monster has destroyed the happiness of our whole family,’ she said in her statement.
Mr Hu suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, dying in hospital after the brawl that was triggered because a friend of Wan’s became jealous over a girl, the court was told.
There was an initial altercation between Mr Hu and Wan’s friend, but Wan, 24, began attacking the teenager after his friend complained of an injury.
Mr Hu was lying helpless on the ground when Wan forcefully stomped on and kicked his head, chief Crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane QC said.
‘The attack on Jeremy was vicious, brutal and senseless,’ he said.
Footage showed Wan, who had been studying commerce at RMIT, steady himself on a wall before delivering the final two blows.
Wan was very loyal to his friend and had spent the week before consoling him over girl troubles, defence barrister John Kelly SC said.
Mr Hu was lying helpless on the ground when Wan forcefully stomped on and kicked his head, chief Crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane QC said
Wan, who was found not guilty of murder at trial and had earlier admitted manslaughter, will be sentenced in the coming weeks
Wan had expressed concern for Mr Hu after the attack and went to the teenager’s hotel room, Mr Kelly said.
‘There was nothing to indicate, in the way he was raised or educated, that he had any anti-social traits, that he had any propensity for violence,’ Mr Kelly told Justice Stephen Kaye.
Mr Hu’s mother yelled at Wan’s family in court as the hearing finished.
Wan, who was found not guilty of murder at trial and had earlier admitted manslaughter, will be sentenced in the coming weeks.