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Weijie He to stand trial for alleged murder of girlfriend Liqun Pan in their Sydney apartment

Lauren FerriNCA NewsWire
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Camera IconNot Supplied Credit: Supplied

An international student accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death inside their Sydney apartment before surviving a fall from the fourth floor has failed to have the matter thrown out of court.

Weijie He faced the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday and hoped to find out he would not have to face trial over the 2020 murder of his girlfriend Liqun Pan.

The 22-year-old was found unconscious outside his apartment block on Chisholm St at Wolli Creek on June 27, 2020, before detectives found the body of his 19-year-old girlfriend inside the unit the next day.

Ms Pan was a Chinese international student studying English on a student visa in Australia.

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Liqun Pan was found dead in her Wolli Creek apartment on June 27, 2020.
Camera IconLiqun Pan was found dead in her Wolli Creek apartment on June 27, 2020. Credit: Supplied

He spent seven months in a coma before he was charged with murder; however, he has not entered a plea and last week faced a mental health fitness inquiry.

Defence barrister Mark Dennis SC told the court that Mr He had acquired a brain injury from the fall, which has been affecting his ability to participate in memory and brain testing.

However, a Crown witness told the court that He was fit to stand trial.

Psychologist Susan Pullman told the court there was a possibility the 22-year-old had been experiencing a psychotic episode at the time of Ms Pan’s death.

“Statements by witnesses would describe very abnormal behaviour on the day prior and day of that could suggest psychosis,” she told the court.

Chinese student murder funeral
Camera IconMonks performed a ritual at Ms Pan’s funeral. Adam Yip Credit: News Corp Australia

Crown prosecutor Philip Hogan supported the defence’s notion that Mr He had sustained “extensive, physical and neurological injuries”.

However, Mr Hogan told the court he did not believe Mr He had been trying his hardest to participate in the testing.

The international student faced the court via audiovisual link from Long Bay Hospital on Wednesday and was dressed in prison greens and in a wheelchair as a result from the fall.

Justice Helen Wilson told the court that she found Mr He was “fit to be tried for the murder of Liquin Pan”.

She adjourned the matter to the Supreme Court arraignment list on August 5, with a trial date to be set.

Justice Wilson is due to publish her reasons on Wednesday.

Originally published as Weijie He to stand trial for alleged murder of girlfriend Liqun Pan in their Sydney apartment

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