The man accused of murdering Chinese student Mengmei “Michelle” Leng, her uncle, is shocked and upset and will be defending his charges, his lawyer says.

Lawyer Bill Whitby said Derek Barrett, who is married to Ms Leng’s aunt, will plead not guilty.

The 25-year-old’s naked body was pulled from a blowhole at Snapper Point in the Munmorah State Conservation Area on the New South Wales central coast last month.

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Barrett was not required to appear at Burwood Local Court on Wednesday and will reappear on June 29.

Court 3 at the complex was filled to overflowing at the brief mention today.

The 27-year-old is accused of stabbing Ms Leng more than 30 times in what police have previously described as “a very violent attack”.

Derek Barrett, 27, (left) has been charged with the murder of his niece Mengmei Leng (far right). Photo: Instagram

A spokesman for Ms Leng’s family, Peter Chen, who studied with her at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), said he hoped people would stop spreading untrue stories about Ms Leng online.

“We really love this lady. Michelle is a good person, like an angel. Just please don’t make any ridiculous story on her,” he said.

Mr Chen said he was from the same town as Ms Leng in China and had known her for a long time.

“She was quite good … and I’m very sorry about the loss,” he said.

He said the family was concerned Barrett would be released from custody and were trying to stop that.

He said Ms Leng’s mother, who will speak to the media tomorrow, had travelled from China with some relatives.

The family is “very sad” he said, adding there had been a lot of media coverage of the murder in China.

Barrett in a ‘terrible place’, lawyer says

Speaking outside court, Mr Whitby said Barrett was not finding conditions at the Sydney police centre “particularly attractive”.

“It’s a terrible place to be incarcerated and I can only hope he’ll be moved in the very near future and I’ll be making a bail application in the not distant future,” he said.

“Obviously he’s very upset, shocked.

“The bail laws are that you can only go once into each court, that is in the local court and the Supreme Court, unless there’s a major change in circumstances.

“It is very foolish to make a bail application until you’re in a proper position to do it.

“In other words, until you have surety lined up and things of that nature. Premature bail applications, in my opinion, are very foolish.”

Ms Leng had completed a business degree at the UTS and was studying at the Sydney Institute of Interpreting and Translation.

She was living with her aunt, Barrett and her cousin in their family home in Campsie.

Police were at first unable to identify Ms Leng and released a computer generated picture of her asking for public assistance to help identify her.

Officers also released CCTV images of Ms Leng shopping in Pitt Street, Sydney, and catching a train from St James railway station in an attempt to identify her.