Α Greek-Australian punished for a horrific murder

Stavros Papadopoulos, a Greek- Australian who is 22 years old from Tasmania was given a life sentence for the brutal attack which the judge described as a premeditated, “thrill” killing of a complete stranger. He will have to serve at least 25 years before he is eligible for parole

Papadopoulos, who murdered 26-year-old University of Tasmania accounting student Zhang “Tina” Yu pleaded guilty to committing this murder in his Hobart apartment in June 2009.

His accomplice, 22-year-old Daniel Jo Williams, was sentenced to 10 years in jail on a charge of manslaughter.

Tasmania’s Supreme Court heard that the men met Yu at a takeaway pizza shop in the early hours of the morning and had driven her to Papadopoulos’s apartment, The Mercury newspaper in Hobart said.

Over the next three hours, she was subjected to such terrible violence and sexual abuse by Papadopoulos that she pleaded to be killed quickly, it said.

After being repeatedly punched, thrown against walls and dragged around by her hair, Papadopoulos suddenly smashed a large concrete brick onto Yu’s head before undressing her, placing her in a bathtub and drowning her.

Williams, who had spent most of this time smoking cannabis, then helped his friend choke Yu in the bath before they placed her body in the boot of their car and dumped it in a river.

The judge said that “This was a brutal and terrible killing of a complete stranger”. He also commented that “It was done with forethought and for the sake or thrill of doing it.”