Image: Xiaoting Wang. Image: NSW POlice
Two University of Sydney students were found dead in an alleged murder-suicide involving domestic violence last week.
Authorities were alerted to the courtyard of the apartment block on Conder Street just after 8:45 a.m. on Monday, August 12 due to a welfare concern report.
Police found a 21-year-old man’s body in the courtyard of a building on Conder Street in Burwood, where he had allegedly leapt to his death. The man was found lying in a garden bed and naked from the waist down. The police identified him as a university student from China.
They then discovered the body of a 21-year-old woman with stab wounds and a suspected murder weapon in the apartment complex. It is suspected that the man stabbed her before jumping to his death from a balcony. The victim was identified as Xiaoting Wang, also a 21-year-old university student from China.
“There are many people in the Burwood and wider Sydney community who have been affected by the death of Xiaoting,” Superintendent Christine McDonald, Commander of Burwood Police Area Command, said in a statement.
“She, like many international students, came to this country for education and opportunity, and for her life to end like this is tragic.” McDonald said, adding, “I urge anyone affected by the deaths to attend a vigil, which is being held later this month, to support each other through this time.”
The vigil is scheduled to be held at the Burwood Pavilion Centre at 5 pm on Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Victim Planned To Leave Boyfriend
The woman told friends she wanted to leave her boyfriend days before she was killed.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the woman had told friends just last weekend that she intended to leave her partner. She had just arrived back in Australia after a trip home to China
The pair, who were living in Australia on student visas, were heard arguing shortly before their deaths. CCTV inside the unit complex showed the pair having a verbal alteration in the early hours of Monday morning.
The two University of Sydney students shared their unit with a flatmate, who was not home at the time.
Further Investigations into Alleged Murder-Suicide
A strike force was set up as investigations continued following the discovery of two bodies in Burwood.
Investigators said they were working to contact the man’s family in China to inform them of his death, while the woman’s family had already been notified.
NSW Police made an official statement regarding the alleged murder-suicide, noting that a second crime scene was established and will undergo forensic examination. McDonald said, “Violence against any person is not, and will not, be tolerated.”
Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers (1800 333 000).
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Beyond Blue 1300 224 636, or Lifeline 131 114.
The men’s referral service which offers assistance, information, and counselling to help men who use family violence can be contacted on 1300 766 491.
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