Accused child killer Vinzent Tarantino confessed, court told
“I killed a kid … I’m f***ed,” Vinzent Tarantino allegedly told his older brother before walking into a police station and confessing to the cold case murder of Sydney schoolgirl Quanne Diec, a murder trial was told today.
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“I killed a kid … I’m f***ed,” Vinzent Tarantino allegedly told his older brother before walking into a police station and confessing to the cold case murder of Sydney schoolgirl Quanne Diec.
But lawyers for Tarantino, who is facing a murder trial two decades after the 12-year-old vanished, say the paranoid and delusional man made repeated false confessions to try and gain protection from the police.
Tarantino has pleaded not guilty to the schoolgirl’s murder.
Quanne was last seen by her family when she left their home on Seventh Street, Granville, to walk to nearby Clyde Railway station on July 27, 1998.
The year 7 student usually caught the train to meet up with friends before they all walked to school in Strathfield — but that morning she never arrived.
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Quanne’s worried family reported her missing when she failed to return home that evening and, quickly, began canvassing the area.
That lead to a woman telling police she saw a young girl get into a van before being driven away. The white van had the letters “PAQ” on the number plate, the witness told police.
Both the defence and prosecution say Tarantino had borrowed a van with a matching number plate at that time.
Crown prosecutor Pat Barrett, outlining the police case on Monday, said Tarantino told multiple people, including loved ones and friends, he had been involved in an ill-fated abduction and ransom attempt.
He told one friend, in 1998, he had abducted an Asian girl but things “went horribly wrong” and he “cancelled her out”.
The court heard Tarantino had driven the girl to his father’s house in a nearby street and asked if she or her family had any money.
Quanne gave her abductor $5 from her purse before people arrived at Tarantino’s home and, in a desperate bid to keep from being found out, he strangled her, the prosecution alleged.
The confessions culminated in November 2016 when Tarantino called up his older brother and said he was about to turn himself in for a homicide, the court heard.
“I did a horrible thing that’s going to affect everyone,” he allegedly told his brother.
“I’m going into the police centre and own up to it, im going to be charged with murder.”
“I killed a kid Alan, I’m f***ed”.
That day Tarantino showed up at Surry Hills Police Station and formally confessed.
Tarantino’s lawyers paint a picture of a man suffering years of ill mental health and spiralling paranoia.
Defence barrister Belinda Rigg SC said her client had “auditory hallucinations” that he believed were legitimate death threats against himself and his family.
She suggested Tarantino may have confessed on multiple occasions in a bid to secure police protection.
“He needed to confess to this crime to stop the threats coming to fruition,” she told the jury.
The trial continues in Sydney.