Vic: "Mad" man stabbed Chinese couple to death, court told

AAP General News (Australia)
04-19-2006
Vic: "Mad" man stabbed Chinese couple to death, court told

MELBOURNE, April 19 AAP - An Indonesian man who killed a young Chinese couple was "mad"

when he stabbed them more than 20 times each, a Melbourne court was told today.

Andrew Jek Kabo, 24, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Li Yuqing and his wife Ying
Zhao, both 31, who died of multiple stab wounds on May 6, 2004.

A neighbour found the couple's bodies in their Essendon unit in Melbourne's north west.

A Victorian Supreme Court jury of seven men and five women must decide whether Kabo
is guilty or not guilty on grounds of mental impairment.

Crown prosecutor Claire Quinn told the court that Kabo was looking for a flat to rent
and had a key to the couple's unit.

He told a co-worker at Vic Ave restaurant in Albert Park he was planning to kill two
people, Mrs Quinn said.

She said Kabo stabbed Mr Li 25 times in the neck and upper body, lay in wait for his
wife to return home and then stabbed her 21 times.

"The accused was a very disturbed individual that has a very troubled history," Mrs Quinn said.

"(But) the commission of these offences and the state of mind of the accused at the
time of these offences does not come within the criteria that needs to be established:
that is, that the accused did not know that the conduct that he was engaging in was wrong."

Defence counsel Max Perry told the court his client was not guilty of murder because
he was mentally impaired.

"We say at the time of the killing, which he committed, he was mad," he said.

"He did not know the nature and quality of his conduct and he did not know that it was wrong."

The trial before Justice Bernard Teague continues.

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KEYWORD: KABO

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