In the early hours of December 27, 2022, Lin visited Luo at her apartment on La Trobe Street, where they engaged in sexual activity. Afterward, Lin requested additional services.
Upon being informed that the additional service would cost him another $100, Lin became furious, forcibly pushed Luo onto the bed, and began to strangle her until she struggled to breathe.
Lin later recounted to a friend that after having sex with Luo, he robbed and assaulted her following an incident where she bit his hand. He insisted she was still alive when he left the scene.
Later the same day, between 10:15 p.m. and 10:45 p.m., Lin went to Jeon’s apartment in Docklands, where they also had sex before he committed another fatal assault.
Due to the advanced state of decomposition, the exact cause of Jeon’s death could not be determined during her autopsy.
In the subsequent legal proceedings, Lin received a sentence of up to 14 years in prison, with a minimum of nine years before he becomes eligible for parole.
Prosecutors appealed the sentence in June 2025, arguing it was manifestly inadequate given the seriousness of the offending and Lin’s high moral culpability.
And appeal justices Lesley Taylor, Peter Kidd and Jane Dixon agreed, today finding the offending called for a stern punishment.
“The objective gravity and moral culpability in respect of each offence was high, and the stark feature of this case was the loss of life by, not just one, but two defenceless women,” the written reasons stated.
“In our view, each of the individual sentences was outside the range reasonably open to the sentencing judge in all the circumstances.”
The justices also found the non-parole period was manifestly too low, given Lin was not found to have good prospects of rehabilitation. They increased it to 14 years.
