Accused murderer takes stand
By Karen Michelmore
March 04, 2005
From: AAP
A TEENAGER accused of the drowning murder of two Thai sex workers
has taken the witness stand in his defence, claiming he knew nothing
of the killings until he saw the news on TV.
Ben William McLean, 19, said his co-accused Phu Ngoc Trinh, also 19,
later told him "his past had caught up with him", and the women had
been killed and thrown off the Adelaide River bridge south-east of
Darwin.
"He didn't mention any names," McLean told the jury today.
"He said it's better off if I don't know, it's his past and he
didn't want me involved."
Advertisement:
Mr McLean and Mr Trinh are standing trial in the Northern Territory
Supreme Court charged with the murders of Phuangsri Kroksamrang, 58,
and Somjai Insamnan, 27.
The women's floating bodies were found in the river by
crocodile-spotting tour guides last March.
Mr McLean said he was shocked when his co-accused had brought the
two prostitutes back to Trinh's parents' property in rural Darwin on
the day of the alleged murders, but admitted sleeping with one of
the women.
Mr Trinh later told the women he wanted to speak with them and the
three went outside, Mr McLean said.
He told the court he heard raised male voices outside and saw three
or four well-dressed Asian men when he went outside to see what was
going on.
Mr Trinh took him back to a caravan on the property and told him to
stay there, he said.
Mr Trinh later returned to say he was leaving to take the women
somewhere to meet the men.
The pair argued about whether Mr McLean could go too, with Mr McLean
jumping in the vehicle, but he eventually agreed to get out, about
3km down the road.
He told the court he waited in the bush beside the road for four
hours, uncomfortable and tired, until he heard Mr Trinh hoot the car
horn twice, as arranged, to pick him up.
Mr McLean said he was not concerned about the women when he got back
into the vehicle.
"I was tired, annoyed," he said.
"I was just ready for a sleep; pretty well I'd had enough of the
day.
"I just thought Phu had taken them (the women) back to where they
were going."
He said Mr Trinh looked "like he had something on his mind".
"He was not his normal smiling self that he is," McLean said.
Life returned to normal until Mr McLean saw a TV news story of the
murders two days later, he said.
"My reaction was to ask Phu whether or not they were the women we
were with," he said.
"He said yes' hey were.
"I said `what's the hell gone on, why did you get me involved?'."
Mr Trinh told him the women had been strangled and their hands and
legs bound, and on one occasion showed McLean where the younger
woman had been thrown off the bridge.
Mr McLean said Mr Trinh asked him to come to Brisbane, where the
pair was later arrested, because he was concerned "people could go
after me".
He told Mr McLean to tell police the women had left the property in
a dark vehicle, and asked him to tell Mr Trinh's Brisbane friends he
was in trouble with the Hells Angels for a speed debt and Mr Trinh
had helped him by killing the women.
However, when arrested by Brisbane police, Mr McLean said he forgot
what Mr Trinh had told him to tell the police and told them the
Hells Angels story instead.