How delaying payment over a drug deal led to the death of Tu Luong
Drug dealer Tu Luong was killed in 2015 owing money to two other dealers. The horrific details of his death have been revealed in court for the first time.
Police & Courts
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A group of men pulled drug addict Tu Luong from a car and set upon him with an iron bar and curtain rod.
It was too late to give them their money or their meth – the hunting knife was plunging into his chest.
The full details of the horrific murder were laid bare by NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter Hamill when he sentenced the men last week.
Just one day before the “senseless killing”, in early December 2015, Luong had approached Sydney dealer Tony William Ho and bought $4000 worth of the drug ice.
But he hadn’t paid upfront, it was “on tick”, meaning he’d pay later, a trial would hear.
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The problem was Ho had obtained it from a mid-level dealer named Minh Duc Trinh, and when Luong did a runner the two dealers decided they needed to get what was owed to them.
Trinh wasn’t a violent bloke, he had an abusive upbringing and mixed in the wrong crowds.
At 36-years-old he had plenty of convictions for drugs and weapons, but when he began to ring around to organise a meeting with Luong he wasn’t planning on a bloodbath.
Trinh and Ho roped in a few associates, including loyal customers Jason Hoang, Abdul Feroz, Vuong Van Nguyen and a man identified only as LK.
The group met at Ho’s place where he hung out and sold drugs in Sydney’s south west.
Ho produced a long hunting knife and asked LK to sharpen it.
One of the associates finally got onto Luong through a mutual friend and organised to meet him in Villawood. They wanted to trade some heroin for the stolen ice.
Luong arrived in a taxi and was ushered into a white Ford Territory where Trinh was waiting.
The Ford travelled down the road but crossed paths with a black Honda carrying Ho, Hoang, Nguyen, Faroz and LK – it was an ambush.
Trinh jumped from the car as the others pulled Luong from the car.
Ho repeatedly struck Luong with an iron bar, Feroz used a curtain rod but Hoang pulled the knife and stabbed him in the chest.
Much of Justice Hamill’s sentencing came down to who knew violence was going to be visited on Luong and to what extent they were involved.
Nguyen, for example, was “running around the scene like a chook with its head cut off” but didn’t grasp the extent of the plan until it was unfolding.
Nguyen, Trinh and Faroz were found guilty of manslaughter and given non-parole periods between six and six-years nine-months with their full sentences to expire in 2025.
Ho and Hoang were found guilty of murder and deemed far more responsible for the “tragic events” that claimed Luong’s life.
Ho was given 15 years non-parole with his final sentence ending in 2036.
Hoang was given a non-parole period of 16 years and six months, his full sentence will expire in 2038.