Adam Asad, Safi Al-Hussin: Murder charges withdrawn in Tuan Vo Tran’s Mt Pritchard death

Murder charges against two men have been dropped after a third man was found dead in the backyard of his southwest Sydney home in 2019.

Two men who were charged with the murder of a southwest Sydney man after he was found dead in his backyard almost two years ago have had the charges dismissed in court, but pleaded guilty to breaking into the man’s house by smashing a window with a shovel.

Tuan Vo Tran’s badly beaten body was found in the backyard of his Mt Pritchard home in October 2019 with serious head injuries and lacerations.

Adam Asad, 40, and Safi Al-Hussim, 44, were charged with murder, manslaughter and special aggravated break, enter and commit serious indictable offence and have been before the courts since May last year.

Emergency services were called to the Young St home about 7.50am on October 30, 2019 after reports of a disturbance earlier that morning.

Mr Tran’s body was found in the backyard of the home and while a post mortem examination was inconclusive, police said he suffered head injuries and lacerations.

Both men appeared at Campbelltown Local Court via AVL on Wednesday, where the DPP withdrew all charges except for one count each of aggravated break and enter to commit a serious indictable offence.

Tuan Vo Tran’s badly beaten body was found in the backyard of his Mt Pritchard home in October 2019 with serious head injuries and lacerations. Picture: NSW Police

Documents tendered to the court explain how the pair were involved in the violent break or enter, detailing how a now-deceased friend of the pair, Janine Allen, attended Mr Tran’s home the evening before.

According to court documents, multiple people went to Mr Tran’s home during the evening of October 29 to the morning of October 30 and socialised with him including Ms Allen.

Ms Allen was at the home for up to ten minutes and purchased 0.5g of methamphetamine in exchange for a $170 Bunnings voucher, according to court documents.

She left the home and drove back to a Cabramatta home where Asad and Al Hussin were living together, where Ms Allen told the pair she could get a “a lot of good gear” from Mr Tran’s house.

According to court documents Ms Allen told the pair she knew where drugs were stashed in the home, and Al Hussin agreed to steal the items with her. The pair then asked Asad to drive them to the home.

“Wait in the car and bring us back and you will get a puff out of it,” Ms Allen told Asad, according to court documents.

Asad did not want to loan Ms Allen and Al Hussin his car and agreed to drive the pair to the Mt Pritchard home about 6.30am in a blue Honda CRV with a white patch on the bonnet and P-plates.

A Holden Commodore and Honda CRV were both seen arriving at and leaving the property in the hours before the arrest. Picture: NSW Police

The car was recorded on CCTV entering Young St about 6.40am, while Mr Tran was at his house with four friends.

Asad parked the car outside Mr Tran’s house and remained in the car while the others went towards the house as Al Hussin grabbed a garden shovel and covered his face as Ms Allen carried a baseball bat, according to court documents.

The pair knocked on the door and yelled to be let inside but when they were ignored Al Hussin smashed the living room window with the shovel, court documents state.

“As the window smashed everyone inside the house ran through the back door or window as Al Hussin used the shovel to clear the glass before crawling through,” court documents state.

Al Hussin opened the door and let Ms Allen in before the pair took drugs, mobile phones and keys to a Mercedes sedan and ran back to the Honda as Asad drove away.

Mr Tran was found dead in his home later that day.

The trio returned back to the Cabramatta home and distributed the stolen property among them, before Asad sold a stolen Samsung Galaxy the following day, according to court documents.

Investigations found a single fingerprint in the living room matched with Al Hussin, with no DNA of Asad in the home.

Asad was the first to be arrested on May 27, 2020 and told a police officer he had no idea Ms Allen and Al Hussin were going to go into the home.

Al Hussin was arrested in June 2020 and first implicated himself in the break and enter but later denied breaking into the home during a police interview.

The pair both pleaded guilty to the break and enter charge at Campbelltown Local Court on Wednesday.

Asad and Al Hussin are set to face Campbelltown District Court on September 9 for sentence.