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[OZ] Teens sentenced to life for murder
Sat Mar 19, 2005 6:31am
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Teens sentenced to life for murder
21:55 AEDT Sat Mar 19 2005


Two teenagers have been sentenced to life imprisonment over the drowning murder of two sex workers in a crocodile infested river.

Friends Ben William McLean and Phu Ngoc Trinh sat emotionless as a jury found them both guilty of two counts of murder.

The unanimous verdict came after more than 12 hours of jury deliberations, and at the end of a sensational five-week trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

The 19-year-olds originally confessed to the murder after they were discovered hiding in a cupboard in a friend's Brisbane home during a midnight police raid a week after the killings.

McLean originally claimed the bikie gang Hells Angels forced them to kill the women to pay off a drug debt, but the teens later admitted the story was a pack of lies.

But in a twist at the end of the trial it was claimed an Asian crime gang was responsible for the killings, and McLean was not even present during the murders.




The elaborate story gained some weight when the prosecution was forced to reopen its case with new evidence at the 11th hour.

Police uncovered security footage that showed Trinh was where he said he was at a particular time on the night of the killings.

However, the jury chose to disbelieve the teens' Asian crime gang story with a guilty verdict, which investigator Greg Lade described as a "great result".

"We're obviously happy, it's good to see that the jury system does work," head of the investigation, Detective Sergeant Lade said outside court.

"We were confident all the way through.

"It's a big case and it's a difficult case.

"There was those full frank confessions to start with and it changed dramatically towards the end of the trial.

"All we can say is at the end of the day a good result."

Darwin sex workers Phuangsri Kroksamrang, 58, and Somjai Insamnan, 27, were bound with cable ties and thrown alive into the Adelaide River, near Darwin in March last year.

Their floating bodies were discovered by crocodile spotting tour operators a couple of days later.

Police later found clothing and items belonging to the women burnt in a fire on Trinh's family property, and a receipt for the rope, tape and cable ties used to bind the women in Trinh's wallet.

Justice Dean Mildren, who has described the killings as "horrific", sentenced the teenagers to mandatory life imprisonment.

He will set a non-parole period on May 16

 

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