Three men charged over alleged murder of teen in Canada Bay
Three teenagers allegedly tortured and murdered a 17-year-old boy they knew through a violent online medieval-themed game before burying him in a shallow bush grave.
NSW
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Three teenagers allegedly tortured and murdered a 17-year-old boy they knew through a violent online medieval-themed game before burying him in a shallow bush grave.
Police will allege Justin Tsang pleaded for his life during a violent kidnapping where he was stabbed to death over a “low value” property dispute involving $500 on March 12.
His body was found near a popular Blue Mountains lookout a week later, four days after his family had reported him missing.
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Three men were charged with his kidnap and murder on Wednesday, including Yigit Erdogan, 19, who is accused of organising and co-ordinating the killing.
“(Mr Tsang) was physically assaulted for hours and hours and hours, so you could say it’s torture,” NSW Homicide Squad Detective Superintendent Scott Cook said.
“There is some suggestion that he actually was pleading for his life during the course of that, it’s very sad.”
Supt Cook said at least one of the accused “knew” Mr Tsang before the alleged kidnapping and murder.
“We know that the people who were in that premises were involved in gaming. In fact we’re pretty confident that’s how they all met each other,” Supt Cook said.
The teens are understood to have played the game Mount And Blade: Warband, which involves medieval action role-playing in which players engage in combat, influence lords and marry ladies, and capture towns or castles to build their own factions.
Police will allege that Mr Tsang got into a green BMW sedan in Drummoyne at 7pm on March 12 with Erdogan before he was driven to a Burwood Heights home where the co-accused Chris Hopkinson and Joel Robertson lived.
There, Mr Tsang was allegedly kept against his will and tortured before suffering a fatal blow to the head. His body was driven in the BMW to Jamison Lookout at Wentworth Falls, where it was buried.
Court documents suggest Mr Tsang was kidnapped and assaulted with the intention of obtaining $500 cash.
“At this stage we think the motive is over a dispute over some property, a small amount of property. We don’t think the motive is anything higher than that,” Supt Cook said.
Hopkinson, who is accused of standing guard with a wrench while the violent attack was carried out by Erdogan and Robertson, made an unsuccessful bail application at Burwood Local Court yesterday.
Erdogan and Robertson did not apply for bail. Hopkinson’s lawyer Ken Buckman told the court his client did not know the victim.
Mr Buckman said the teen had been “intimidated” and “scared” and “not sure what to do, being an 18-year-old young man”.
He also said he had doubts over the reliability of the principal witness’s account of his client’s involvement.
“He has never been in trouble with the law before and … although he was present for some or all of incident he is not part of a joint criminal enterprise.
But this was rejected by Magistrate Lisa Stapleton, who refused Hopkinson’s bail application, noting the witness’s detailed account was corroborated by mobile phone records and CCTV.
“The circumstances of the murder of Mr Tsang shows extreme violence and abhorrent callousness,” the magistrate said.
“The allegation against the accused is that he stood guard with a weapon and detained Mr Tsang, and that he was present when the two co-accused inflicted terrible injuries on him which are set to have resulted in the death of Mr Tsang.”
A former classmate of Mr Tsang said he “was a very outgoing kid” who had stopped going to school last year.
All three have been charged with murder and take/detain person and their matters will return to court in May.
ONLINE BATTLES ALL TOO REAL FOR SOME
Mount And Blade is a medieval fantasy role playing game that allows players to roam an open world and battle on behalf of one of five warring factions.
A multiplayer mode was added in 2010 which allows players to meet online and form teams to fight each other and level-up their archery, cavalry, and infantry skills.
Contests involve large-scale castle siege events and smaller modes such as capture the flag, in which players attempt to kill each other before their team’s flag is stolen. The game was released by Turkish company TaleWorlds Entertainment and gained considerable popularity in the non-mainstream computer gaming community.
Its success led it to be ported to gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One in 2016.
Originally published as Three men charged over alleged murder of teen in Canada Bay
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