In 2016, a promising young woman was brutally murdered by her uncle, a man who lived under the same roof as her family.

What seemed like a normal, happy family life, turned into a nightmare due to this man's twisted obsession.

Let's dive into the shocking and tragic case of Meng Mei Michelle Leung in Australia.

♪♪

Inside the court had never been so intense, filled with gasps and tears.

A mother cried as she listened to the murderer's confession about her daughter's last moments.

Each detail and peace of heart evidence presented before the court only tore her heart open more, causing excruciating pain.

With a heavy sob, she pleaded with Justice Helen Wilson to imprison this cold-hearted murder for life.

It was the trial of Derek Barrett for the murder of Meng Mei Michelle Leung.

The man's confession shocked those in court.

They never expected such a brutal and heinous act against this young woman.

What makes it even more disgusting is that Derek had been living under the same roof with a family as the victim's uncle.

So what exactly happened?

And why did nobody know about his sick obsession before it turned into murder?

Meng Mei Leung, also known as Michelle, was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China on January 29, 1991.

People close to Michelle said she was a nice, smart, and respectable child.

Even though Michelle and her parents were close, things got tough after her father passed away in an earthquake in 2008.

But that didn't stop her.

She kept being a determined girl and lived her life to the fullest.

Michelle was very smart and always got excellent grades.

She dreamed of going abroad for higher education.

Michelle's mom supported the idea, thinking her daughter would be better off studying in Australia.

This decision was also because Michelle's aunt had married and settled there, so Michelle would be safe.

So in 2011, Michelle enrolled at the University of Technology in Sydney and graduated with a degree in business studies in 2014.

Michelle stayed in her aunt's apartment, where her aunt also had a daughter two years younger than Michelle.

The cousins got along well, making the place happier.

Michelle's aunt, who was 44, married Derek Barrett, who was 24, in 2012, a year after Michelle moved in.

Derek, only three years older than Michelle, was reportedly an I.T. specialist who was out of work for a short time.

They all lived together in suburban Camp C, New South Wales, since their marriage.

Derek was a quiet and a passive man for the most part, but nobody in the house would ever think he had some deranged side to him.

He first had a sexual obsession with his own stepdaughter.

He would secretly take pictures and videos of Michelle's cousin while showering or changing and use them to his own pleasure.

It was in no time that he'd also develop a sexual obsession with Michelle, posing as a caring uncle who turned out to be a sickening pervert.

Derek had installed small spy cameras inside the bathroom, hiding them behind toiletries to record the girls taking a shower.

He'd then store the footage and satisfy himself with it.

At night, Derek would sneak into the girls' room and indulge in self-satisfying acts next to them when the girls were asleep.

In the morning, the girls would know nothing at all, and Derek would again act like he was normal.

So you might ask, how come Aunt Lung never seemed to know?

Aunt Lung was always busy with work and often went on business trips.

During these times, she'd leave the apartment for days, and the girls would stay home with her husband.

It makes sense that these disturbing activities happened while she was away, but no one could have predicted that Derek would take things so far.

On Sunday, April 24th, 2016, Derek went to the train station to pick up his wife, who was returning from a business trip.

When Aunt Lung got home, she asked Derek about her niece, noticing Michelle was nowhere to be found.

Derek said he hadn't seen her in two days, which was strange, since he wasn't working and would likely have seen Michelle at the house.

Derek claimed that Michelle had been going to nightclubs and spending a lot of time with friends to support his story.

When Aunt Lung asked her daughter about Michelle, she got the same response, since her daughter had spent the night at a friend's house.

So Aunt Lung spent the whole day trying to reach Michelle, but her phone seemed to be turned off.

She called Michelle's family in China to see if they knew where Michelle might have gone, but no one had any information.

Concerned, the next day, Derek and Aunt Lung went to the police station to report Michelle missing.

They also filed a missing persons report with the Chinese embassy in Australia to draw more attention to her disappearance.

Not long after, Michelle had been found, but Aunt Lung's world turned upside down when she learned Michelle was already dead.

A body had been discovered by the time the police report was submitted.

On Sunday, April 24th, around 10.30 a.m., several tourists reported seeing a body floating in the water near a snapper point about 80 miles from Camp C.

A team was sent to retrieve the body.

The body, initially unidentified but described as Asian, was between 20 and 35 years old and about 170 centimeters tall.

It was hard to estimate how long the body had been in the water because decomposition had already started.

Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin was assigned to the investigation.

The examiner and the police cross-checked missing persons reports and came across Michelle's case.

Suspecting the body was Michelle, they recreated a sketch of the face and compared it to her picture.

It was a good match.

The news reached Michelle's family in China, breaking their hearts.

They came to Australia, faced with a grim reunion with their precious girl, and they demanded answers.

The state of the body made things worse, adding salt to the wound.

Michelle had been severely assaulted with numerous injuries found on her body.

The medical examiner identified more than 30 stab wounds during the autopsy.

It's assumed that she fought for her life, leading to defensive wounds on her arms.

The police were able to locate

Michelle's whereabouts on April 21st, the day she was reported missing.

She was filmed on CCTV shopping at Pitt Street in Sydney's CBD around 3 p.m., maybe hanging out with friends and having fun as usual.

Nothing in her face suggested anxiety or a desire to run away.

She was just casually strolling through the mall.

And after a fun day, she was seen catching a train from St. James Railway Station, arriving at Campsie Railway Station around 4.30 p.m., seemingly heading home.

And that was the last footage of her alive and well.

There was already a suspect in Michelle's killing, according to the investigation.

The police were skeptical of Derek Barrett's claims that he didn't see Michelle because he woke up late, despite being the last person to see her alive.

According to Derek, he last saw Michelle on Thursday, April 21st, after dinner.

They watched a movie, and then Michelle went to her room to sleep.

When he woke up on Friday, April 22nd,

Michelle had left the house and hadn't returned by the time her aunt arrived.

After calling Derek in for questioning, the authorities started asking about his relationship with Michelle.

Derek was repeatedly questioned, but he refused to respond and insisted on seeing a lawyer.

Seeing how defensive he was, the authorities informed that he was now a suspect.

Investigators quickly got to work building a case against Derek.

After examining his cell phone signal, they found that Derek had been in the same area as Michelle's body on April 24th.

So why was he there?

The police quickly obtained CCTV footage showing a car matching Barrett's vehicle near Snapper Point around 7 a.m. on April 24th.

Barrett insisted it wasn't his vehicle, but investigators found more video showing him buying drinks and paying for gas at a station while traveling to Snapper Point.

When confronted with the fact that he had lied about his activities on April 24th,

Derek blamed his lack of memory on frequent drug use.

He just kept lying, digging himself deeper.

Derek's mobile phone was confiscated and given to specialists for examination.

The police were unprepared for what they discovered when they recovered previously erased data from the phone.

Among the deleted files on his phone were images and videos of Michelle and his own stepdaughter taking a shower, as well as Derek masturbating next to Michelle's bed.

In addition to being charged with unlawful confinement, secret videotaping, and stealing Michelle Leung's life,

Derek Barrett was indicted on 27 other counts.

In December 2017, Derek entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to 46 years in jail with the possibility of release after 34 years and six months.

He simply sat with his head down and showed little emotion during his sentencing.

Derek started whining about having a rough upbringing and being teased at school.

However, his psychiatrist concluded that he was entirely accountable for his actions.

According to reports, Derek apologized in writing to his wife and Michelle's family, saying that there are no adequate words to express the suffering he has caused them.

But no amount of regret can erase the suffering the Leung family had to endure, and no apology can bring Michelle back.

But this is not the end of the story.

Initially, he was never charged with her sexual assault until 2019, four years after the murder, when an elderly woman was found in possession of a USB device, which contained pictures and videos of Derek sexually assaulting Michelle shortly before her murder.

When she saw it contained graphic photos and videos, she handed it to the police who identified Derek in the footage.

The nine videos found on the USB, which began with Derek entering Michelle's bedroom, contained horrific details of the crime.

Justice Helen Wilson said,

Michelle's personal integrity was cruelly defiled by an offender who took pleasure in hurting, humiliating, and degrading her.

Based on the video evidence, on April 21st, Michelle arrived home around midnight.

And after midnight, Derek Barrett began his sinister plan.

Michelle was taken aback when her uncle entered her room, just as she was about to nod off.

To silence her, Derek attacked her, bound her, and taped her mouth.

After stripping his niece naked,

Derek began to take images and videos of her body, including intimate shots of her private parts.

Around eight in the morning on April 22nd, when Derek took the last photo,

Michelle was still conscious, but trembling with fear.

That same day, around 4 p.m.,

Derek's stepdaughter came home.

She had no idea her cousin was restrained and gagged in the other room.

Michelle's cries for help went unheard during the roughly three hours she was home before leaving again.

Inside the room, Derek had set up different cameras.

In that hellish space, he assaulted Michelle, recording it from various angles for his own satisfaction.

In the video, Michelle could be heard crying and begging him to stop, but it was in vain.

The rest of the video was only audio, presumably capturing Michelle's last moments.

There were pleas and questions about why this was happening.

Then everything went quiet as the video cut off.

Then after two days, he stabbed her 40 times.

After killing the poor girl, he then dumped Michelle's body in a blowhole at Snapper Point on the NSW Central Coast.

But he never received the life sentence.

Justice Wilson gave Derek a 20-year sentence for nine new sexual offenses, but this sentence will be served at the same time as his current 46-year sentence.

So this won't extend the total time, but it will slightly increase the minimum time he must serve before he can be considered for parole from 34 years to 36.5 years.

He will be eligible for parole on October 27th, 2052.

Supreme Court Justice Helen Wilson stated that if she had been aware of the full extent of his crimes in 2017, she would have given him a life sentence.

But she noted that it's now too late to impose that.

The videos were too vile for such a short sentence, but sadly, it still wasn't enough to sentence Derek to life imprisonment.

Derek had now received the longest sentence possible, 46 years in prison.

Do you believe that justice has been served?

Reading and listening to this case is truly heartbreaking.

Meng Mei Michelle Leung had such a bright future ahead of her, but it was cut short by the sick obsession of a disturbed individual.

People are questioning why it is so hard to sentence Derek to life imprisonment, but we may never know.

Let us pray for Michelle.

May she rest in peace, and may her family find the strength to get through their grief.

As for Derek, may he pay for his crimes in prison and live every day with the weight of what he had done to her.

That's all for today, and as always, thanks for watching.