Two confessed killers should pay for the murder of an innocent man with their lives, a court has heard.
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And Liang Zhao's killers, along with the ACT Government, should compensate the family for their losses, according to the victim's mother.
Mr Zhao, of Gungahlin, was robbed and brutally murdered as he walked along Northbourne Avenue in August 2011.
Taylor Lewis Schmidt and a young man, who cannot be named as he was a juvenile at the time, pleaded guilty to murder in the ACT Supreme Court last month.
Mr Zhao decided to walk home from the Jolimont Bus Centre when he could not find a taxi after arriving in Canberra at 4am on a Greyhound bus from Melbourne.
Court documents said Schmidt and the juvenile armed themselves with a machete and baseball bat and walked along Northbourne Avenue towards the city with the aim of robbing someone.
They confronted Mr Zhao, knocked him to the ground and dragged him several metres from the footpath where they stole his mobile phone and $21 cash.
They then beat him with the weapons.
Mr Zhao's body was found by passers-by about 6.40am on August 4, 2011.
The juvenile appeared before a sentencing hearing on Wednesday.
A number of family members of both Mr Zhao and the defendant wept as a victim impact statement from Mr Zhao's mother was read out in court.
But the mother was too distraught to remain in the courtroom with her son's killer, leaving only minutes before the statement was read out by a victim support officer.
Mr Zhao's mother said she had driven to Civic to pick up her son but could not find him.
She described the victim as a kind, caring and helpful son who never let them down.
She urged Justice Richard Refshauge to impose a harsh penalty and said the death penalty was not too harsh.
"They should pay this bloody debt with their lives," the statement said.
Mr Zhao's mother had suffered financial hardship by paying for the funeral and being unable to work.
She said Mr Zhao would have looked after his parents in their retirement years and the government and killers should compensate her family for the loss of her only son.
She said the government should allow a relative to migrate to Australia to care for her and her husband as they age.
The hearing before Justice Richard Refshauge continues on Wednesday afternoon.
