Brutal zoo murderer threatened to kill jail inmate over his victim, court told

CONTENT WARNING: This article contains distressing content and refers to mental health, self-harm and suicide.

The chef who brutally killed his colleague at Canberra’s zoo remains infatuated with his victim, with a court hearing he threatened a jail inmate over her and also wrote a letter of apology partly addressed to her.

Jude Luckshan Wijesinghe admitted murdering 29-year-old Tshewang Choden at the National Zoo & Aquarium before details of his horrific crime were revealed earlier this year.

When sentencing proceedings began in the ACT Supreme Court last week, Ms Choden’s family told the 31-year-old, “You have taken something very precious from us”.

The proceedings continued on Tuesday (21 October) with the court hearing that he wrote a letter of apology.

Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said he addressed Ms Choden at the end of the letter by saying, “You are loved. I am sorry for what happened, I really am. I pray for you every day”.

She said he hadn’t written something like, “I’m sorry for stabbing you 14 times and taking your life”, and the way his apology was expressed suggested something less than an acceptance of complete responsibility.

“I don’t know what he’s apologising for,” she said.

Wijesinghe’s barrister, Dr Kylie Weston-Scheuber, argued her client had taken ownership of his conduct, saying he had also written: “I would like to apologise to everyone affected by my actions”.

The barrister argued that the fact that her client’s mental illness had produced the offending should result in a significant reduction in terms of seriousness.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Andrew Carroll said Wijesinghe had a major depressive disorder with psychotic features at the time, which meant he lost contact with reality due to false perceptions and beliefs, and had a pathological infatuation with Ms Choden.

He thought the depression was now in remission, but the infatuation continued.

Dr Weston-Scheuber said due to his infatuation, her client had a fixation on Ms Choden and illogically thought she and his colleagues were deliberately taunting him, resulting in his feelings of rage and humiliation.

The barrister argued her client’s anger and rage were the product of his mental illness and noted he was suicidal and expected he was going to die on the day he killed his victim.

Wijesinghe had committed an act of self-harm after the murder, which saw him taken to hospital.

Dr Weston-Scheuber said if it sounded irrational, it was.

“We are dealing with a state of severe mental illness here,” she said.

She said her client had offered to plead guilty to manslaughter based on diminished responsibility in August 2024, before he ultimately pleaded guilty to murder.

The court heard Wijesinghe threatened to kill another inmate at Canberra’s jail over Ms Choden in October 2024, saying he was already in custody for murder and was expecting to get a life sentence anyway.

ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Victoria Engel SC said the fact that Wijesinghe threatened to kill an inmate last year over Ms Choden showed he still remained a risk.

She also said he told the author of a pre-sentence report that Ms Choden “asked him out”, which was clearly false and not supported by any evidence.

Chief Justice McCallum will hand down her sentence on 12 December.

Wijesinghe sat in the courtroom’s dock and hung his head through most of his sentencing proceedings.

Ms Choden, who was from Bhutan, and Wijesinghe, from Sri Lanka, both worked as chefs in the kitchen at the zoo’s Jamala Wildlife Lodge for more than a year before he killed her.

They didn’t talk much at work, but in June 2023, he asked her out for dinner, which she declined.

Then, on 18 December 2023, some men working at a construction site near the lodge heard a woman screaming frantically and ran towards the sound.

They arrived to hear screaming and banging coming from a dry storeroom outside the kitchen and tried to get inside, but the door was locked.

The workers ran to find help, and when they returned, they found that while the screaming had stopped, the door was open and Wijesinghe was standing inside. There was blood on his hands as well as the boning knife he held.

Ms Choden was found in the storeroom. She was dead, having been stabbed 14 times, including four times to the head and neck and once in the heart.

The court heard he later claimed he had been “in love” with Ms Choden since early 2023.

Director and general manager of the National Zoo & Aquarium, Amanda Mead, told Region she had the opportunity to read a victim impact statement to the court during the sentencing hearing.

“This highlighted the terrible impact the tragedy has had on so many people,” she said.

“Our thoughts remain with Ms Choden’s family and friends, as well as the staff who were affected by this devastating event.”

If you need help, or someone you know does, you can contact:

Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis support line – 13 11 14
Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467
Kids Helpline – 1800 551 800 or kidshelpline.com.au
MensLine Australia – 1300 789 978 or mensline.org.au.