The mother of murdered international student Aiia Maasarwe has detailed her heartache in an emotional victim impact statement read out in a Melbourne court.
"Why should I lose my daughter because of a reckless monster in the form of a human being, without conscience or mercy?" Ms Maasarwe's mother, Kittan wrote in a statement to the court.
"I am a mother whom her heart has been squeezed in pain, day after day, thinking of my little girl ... how she screamed and I did not hear her screams and I was not with her to help her and defend her and protect her."
Ms Maasarwe - a Palestinian Arab of Israeli citizenship who had moved to Australia for study - had caught a tram home to Bundoora on January 15 and was brutally attacked with a metal pole outside a Melbourne tram stop by 21-year-old Codey Herrmann, Victoria's Supreme Court was told on Tuesday.
Hermann struck the student nine more times, sexually assaulted her and strangled her before setting her on fire, the court heard.
International student Aya Maasarwe was murdered by a stranger in a public place. Source: James Ross/AAP One
She died from extensive head injuries and her body was found hours later, early on 16 January, by a passer-by on the way to work.
Herrmann was arrested two days later when police found his blood-stained cap and t-shirt, as well as a can of WD-40 and the pole ditched in a nearby reserve.
He pleaded guilty to rape and murder but maintained he did not intentionally strangle his victim, his lawyer Tim Marsh said.
Mr Marsh described the crimes as a "savage rape and homicide", drawing comparisons with the 2012 rape and murder of Melbourne woman Jill Meagher.
Herrmann was squatting in a condemned house and subsisted off shoplifted croissants and chocolate milk at the time he killed Ms Maasarwe.
His life was essentially "get Centrelink, buy drugs, share them with mates, shoplift food from the supermarket," Mr Marsh said.
He added Herrmann had developed drug problems after a traumatic childhood, was cut adrift from his Indigenous culture and heritage and displayed traits of a personality disorder.
"There is a core of anger in Mr Herrmann," Mr Marsh said.
When he asked Herrmann why he was angry, the young man replied: "I have everything to be angry about".
A psychological report suggested his crimes came from an attempt "to redress the gross power imbalance he felt between himself and the world".
He had used a significant amount of ice the day before he killed Ms Maasarwe but there was no suggestion he was in a drug-induced psychosis at the time.
Mr Marsh anticipated a long jail sentence for Herrmann but cautioned against life imprisonment.
The hearing is expected to continue on Wednesday.
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