AUSTRALIA – Two teenagers were sentenced to 25 years in prison by an Australian court Tuesday for the murder of two sex workers. The teens, Ben William McLean and Phu Ngoc Trinh, strangled the two women in the back of a van, bound them with cables, and tossed their unconscious bodies into a river. The bodies were weighed down with car batteries, but were found the next day by a crocodile spotting tour. The two women were Phuangsri Kroksamrang, 58, and Somjai Insamnan, 27.
Although the teens had admitted to the crime when first picked up by police, they later changed their story and claimed that the women were murdered in front of them by a Vietnamese gang. The sentence was handed down in the Northern Territory Supreme Court by Justice Dean Mildren.
“On the evidence before me, these were cold-blooded murders committed by these young men for reasons unknown,” said Justice Mildren.
The 25 year prison sentence was the minimum possible penalty.
After the murders, Trinh withdrew $1800 from Kroksamrang’s bank account, but according to Justice Mildren he made remarkably little effort to conceal the primary evidence of his crime.
“They brazenly went about their own business immediately after the murders,” Justice Mildren said. “It’s likely that neither of the accused expected the bodies would be found.”
According to Justice Mildren, there was some evidence that McLean was surprised by the plans of his companion. He said that Trinh was the mastermind of the murders, and Trinh bought the cable ties and tape used in the crime.
“There is no evidence McLean was aware of what Trinh was up to. It’s possible he was surprised when Trinh turned up with the women,” Justice Mildren said.
Both Trinh and McLean have appealed their convictions.
