Jude Luckshan Wijesinghe pleaded guilty to stabbing his co-worker to death at Canberra’s zoo. Photo: Facebook.
CONTENT WARNING: This article contains distressing content and refers to self-harm and suicide.
The family of the young chef stabbed to death by a co-worker at Canberra’s zoo has told her killer: “You have taken something very precious from us.”
“Tshewang’s life was a gift and her memory is our strength,” her three brothers told Jude Luckshan Wijesinghe at his sentencing hearing on Friday (17 October).
The 31-year-old admitted murdering 29-year-old Tshewang Choden before details of his horrific crime were revealed in documents tendered to the ACT Supreme Court earlier this year.
Her family said they lost “our heart, our joy, our life” due to his crime and that her life was stolen in a brutal, senseless and inhumane act.
“Her love held our family together,” her brothers said.
“Every day is a struggle. We are broken.”
One zoo worker, who provided first aid to Wijesinghe at the scene of the murder, said she attended court as the case progressed through the system to look in his eyes and see whether there was any remorse.
“I have always been left disappointed,” she said.
Another zoo worker said he had gone into a state of panic after witnessing the murder scene.
“What I had to see has permanently scarred my mind,” he said.
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.
In court on Friday, ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Victoria Engel SC said Wijesinghe had locked the door of the storeroom and Ms Choden “was effectively trapped in those moments”.
When a psychiatrist asked Wijesinghe what happened, he said: “I just snapped.”
But police raided his home after the murder and found handwritten notes in the kitchen which contained comments such as: “It was never meant to end this way.”
In a note to his parents, he said: “I love you both more than anything in this world. But these people f—-d my head, including Tshewang.”
The court heard he later claimed he had been “in love” with Ms Choden since early 2023.
On Friday, forensic psychiatrist Dr Andrew Carroll said that at the time, Wijesinghe had a major depressive disorder with psychotic features, which meant he lost contact with reality due to false perceptions and beliefs, and had a pathological infatuation with Ms Choden.
He said the killer felt “humiliated” by colleagues, “enraged” by how he perceived Ms Choden behaved towards him and felt entitled to have a relationship with a woman even if she wasn’t interested in him.
“He carried out this offence in a misplaced sense of exacting justice for those he held responsible for his distress,” he said.
“He remains pathologically infatuated with the victim.”
Dr Carroll said Wijesinghe told him he originally planned to poison himself at his home before leaving for the zoo that day, but took the poison with him. So it seemed as though he had a plan to kill Ms Choden before killing himself, the psychiatrist said.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum adjourned to continue the sentencing hearing on Tuesday (21 October).
Wijesinghe has remained in custody since his arrest on the day of the murder.
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.
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