Melbourne grandmother gets 18 years' jail for murdering daughter-in-law

A Melbourne grandmother who killed her daughter-in-law by hitting her with a hammer more than 30 times has been jailed for 18 years.

Huajiao Zhuang, 50, of Reservoir, must serve a 13-and-a-half year minimum for the murder.

The Victorian Supreme Court heard Zhuang murdered her 21-year-old daughter-in-law Dan "Selina" Lin by repeatedly striking her with a hammer in front of her young grandson at Ms Lin's Bundoora home on May 3, 2012.

In sentencing, Justice Stephen Kaye said there had been a history of animosity between the pair over cultural issues and Zhuang's interference in the marriage, which boiled over into a violent outburst as Ms Lin was about to bathe her two-year-old son.

Justice Kaye said the relationship between the pair had deteriorated badly by the time the murder occurred.

"It is clear that Selina did not like you, and she resented your interference in her marriage. At times she was prepared to stand up to you and to refuse to comply with your wishes," the judge said on Wednesday.

"On the other hand, I am well satisfied on the evidence that you developed a strong sense of hostility towards Selina.

"On two previous occasions, that underlying feeling of animosity towards Selina was so intense that it erupted into acts of physical violence towards her."

Justice Kaye said immediately after the murder, Zhuang left her grandson alone as she placed Ms Lin's body in a nylon suitcase, cleaned up the scene, and put the suitcase with the body in a neighbour's wheelie bin.

The judge said in the early hours of the next morning, Zhuang pushed the wheelie bin 800 metres down the road to a nearby creek. She tipped the bag down a steep bank into the creek, and hid the wheelie bin.

Justice Kaye said later that morning, Zhuang told her daughter that she had to defend herself from Ms Lin, and then reported it to the police, wrongly claiming self-defence.

"I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that in striking the blows which caused the death of Selina, you did not act under the apprehension that Selina was, or might have been, posing any danger to yourself," Justice Kaye said.

"Rather, you killed Selina in the course of an uncontrollable burst of anger arising out of the argument that had arisen between you and Selina."

Zhuang claimed she acted in self-defence but in May a jury convicted her of the murder.