Jude Wijesinghe (29 when arrested) was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Supreme Court for the murder of Tshewang Choden of Bhutan at the National Zoo & Aquarium at Yarralumla, in Canberra on 18 December, 2023.
Wijesinghe stabbed Tsewang, who was his supervisor, 14 times in a locked storeroom in a fit of premeditated ‘murderous violence’, the court has heard according to The Daily Mail paper.
There officers found the body of Tshewang in a storeroom behind a commercial kitchen.
After stabbing Tshewang he tried to harm himself.
Wijesinghe, was taken to hospital and placed under arrest after officers charged him with Ms Choden’s murder.
He faced ACT Supreme Court on Friday where Justice Lucy McCallum sentenced him to 30 years in prison for a crime of the ‘utmost gravity’ according to Daily Mail.
Chief Justice McCallum said Wijesinghe had been a jealous man who premeditated the murder, which increased the seriousness of his crime.
‘He was motivated to kill a woman because he couldn’t have her for himself,’ Chief Justice McCallum said, reported The ABC.
‘Such violence against women is a scourge.’
The killer and his victim had worked as chefs in the zoo’s Jamala Wildlife Lodge kitchen for more than a year prior to the murder.
Wijesinghe developed a romantic interest for his supervisor, Ms Choden, and had told a psychiatrist that he was in love but ‘felt constrained’ due to her superiority over him.
He still tried to court Ms Choden after telling her she had the ‘prettiest name in the world’ before asking her out in June 2023.
Ms Choden declined his offer.
On the night of the murder a construction worker attempted to intervene after hearing screams coming from the kitchen where the two worked on December 18.
The worker and several other staff members tried getting into the storeroom to check what was going on but could not as the door had been locked shut.
As the group waited Wijesinghe eventually opened the door covered in blood and holding a knife.
Choden’s body was behind him on the storeroom floor.
Chief Justice McCallum said this attack had been one of ‘sustained brutality’ which undoubtedly resulted in Ms Choden’s last moments being spent in ‘pain and abject terror’.
He trapped her in a locked room where she couldn’t protect herself. She must have known she was about to die,’ she told the court.
Wijesinghe was initially due to stand trial before he pleaded guilty to murder in July 2024 according to Daily Mail.
Psychiatric reports conducted at the time revealed Wijesinghe had been suffering a major depressive episode when he murdered Ms Choden.
But Chief Justice McCallum noted Wijesinghe had been capable of ‘rational deliberation’ and that he had not taken any opportunity to seek support for his spiralling mental health.
Wijesinghe, who is from Sri Lanka, was sentenced to a total period of 30 years but a non-parole period of 20 years. This means he will be up for parole (early release) consideration after 20 years depending on his conduct in prison and his case.
He will be eligible for parole release in 2043 according to Daily Mail.