The murder trial of a man accused of killing his wife and storing her body in a freezer for three months began today at the Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court.

Yang Ganlian, father of the victim, stands outside the Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court on November 29.

The suspect, Zhu Xiaodong, 30, was accused of beating his wife, Yang Liping, 30, over a dispute on October 18 of last year at their home in the Shangye Yicun residential community in Hongkou District.

Zhu handed himself in to police on February 1 after inviting his parents over for dinner and then confessing his guilt.

"Until now, neither Zhu, his family or any representative, have tried to approach us to apologize or show regret," Yang's father Yang Ganlian, 60, said.

He added, "For us, we don't want to see any one of them. We have no words. He did such an evil thing, which caused very severe social influence."

Yang's family believed it was a premeditated murder and want Zhu to be convicted to death and executed immediately.

They wore T-shirts printed with "Severely punish the murderer" and held banners outside the court this morning.

"He didn't kill my daughter on impulse, he plotted it," the father said."He didn't call police or an ambulance, or run away."

Instead, over the three months after allegedly killing his wife, Zhu lived a normal life.

To cover up her death, Zhu made up excuses, saying they were travelling around, to prevent anyone from visiting the young couple, the father said.

He also impersonated Yang and pretended she was still alive via SMS and WeChat messages.

Under his request, Yang quit her job as a primary school teacher on October 14, 2016.

For the family, the motive remains unknown.

"Every time we met them, they seemed like any other lovely couple. Zhu didn't speak too much in front of us, and my daughter never told us anything bad about him. We've got no idea why he killed her," Yang Ganlian said.

After her death, the family got to know that the couple, who registered for marriage on December 31, 2015, had applied for a divorce in August last year. But in the end they didn't split up.

When collecting evidence, the family found that one and a half months before the murder, Zhu bought books about death and murder. After that he bought the freezer which was later used to store Yang's body. During police interrogation, Zhu claimed the freezer just stored beef and mutton.

He said after his daughter's death, Zhu used her credit card and squandered nearly 200,000 yuan (US$30,300) on luxurious goods like a Burberry belt, and dated other women. Police investigation showed he had used Yang's ID card to check in to hotels, accompanied by different women.

"It's so sad to lose my only child," Yang Ganlian said. Now, what keeps him going is the support he is receiving from the public.

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