Girl saw Indian mom strangled by Australian stepdad

The man, who had met his wife in an Internet chat room and didn't want her to travel to India to donate a kidney for her sick mother, then killed his step-daughter in June last year.

The bodies of the woman, an Indian social worker, and her daughter were found by hikers at the base of Echo Point in New South Wales.

The 43-year-old man, who met his wife in an Internet chat room before she moved to Australia, reported them missing a month before their remains were discovered.

He later confessed to the murders, telling police he killed them at their Blacktown home and then drove their bodies in the boot of his car to the Blue Mountains, The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

He said he told two family members who were with him to go for a walk and while they were gone he pushed the bodies off a cliff.

In his Supreme Court sentencing hearing, the man showed no emotion as a victim's impact statement was read on behalf of his wife's sister.

The court heard the woman had moved to Sydney with her daughter after meeting the man online.

"She thought he was a good man. She trusted and loved him," The Daily Telegraph quoted her as saying.
But soon after they got married in 2007, the woman confided that her new husband had become possessive, controlling and had threatened to kill her or have her deported.
The woman wanted to leave him and move in with her sister but she was told by authorities she would be in breach of her visa.

The woman also wanted to travel back to India to donate a kidney for her sick mother, but her husband hid her passport and personal documents to prevent the trip, the report said.

"This man knew of her plan and he knew our mother could have been saved. There will be three deaths, not two, because of this man's evil actions," the woman's sister said.
The Daily Telegraph quoted an agreed statement of facts as saying that the man told a cell-mate: "I thought I was going to lose everything I had worked for because that s*** wanted to go back to India."

Justice Michael Grove will sentence the man later this month.