Cannabis crop in Sunshine West home clue to Toan Thoai Truong murder
A SECRET cannabis crop in the home of a murdered Melbourne father could be the key to finding his killer.
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A SECRET cannabis crop in the home of a murdered Melbourne father could be the key to finding his killer.
Detectives investigating the February 3 shooting of Toan Thoai Truong have today revealed the hydroponic crop was growing in an upstairs bedroom of his Sunshine West home.
It’s believed the 43-year-old’s killer, who fatally shot Mr Truong in front of his heavily pregnant wife, was after the crop.
Their three-year-old son was also home.
“Investigators believe the offender was aware of the existence of the hydroponic cannabis crop and had entered the house with the intent to steal the cannabis,’’ a Victoria Police statement said.
Mr Truong was fatally wounded about 5am when he chased a male intruder into a rear bedroom of his Allison St house.
Two shots were fired.
Mr Truong had gone to assist his wife who was earlier woken by a noise and disturbed the offender when she got up to investigate.
Det-Insp Michael Hughes, of the homicide squad, said there had been a number of cannabis crophouse break-ins in the lead up to the murder, although it was unclear if they were linked.
A similar robbery occurred at Taylors Hill only on Monday, the latter drama leaving a man with serious injuries.
Det-Insp Hughes said Mr Truong was a decent man from a good family who had a good job as an engineer and hadn’t been in trouble with police.
“For some reason he decided perhaps he could make some money out of growing a hydroponic crop and has paid the extreme price for that mistake,” he said.
“It’s terrible incident for the family to deal with.”
Mr Truong’s brother, Tai Truong, said his brother’s wife, who has since given birth to a girl, remained traumatised with what had occurred.
“My brother did a stupid thing, he made a mistake and for that he paid with his life.
“For us his family what he did and what happened to him was not only a shock but remains inexplicable because he was not wanting for money.
“It baffles our mind what had happened to him.”
Tai Truong said his brother, born in Vietnam, was a stereotypical larrikin.
“He was a family man. He had the world ahead of him. To the good folk out there — if any one of you believe that you have information, however little however trivial, it may not be trivial to police.
“It may be something they need to get them across the line.”
The offender escaped in a car police believe was parked nearby.
CCTV footage from the area shows a dark sedan speeding away from the scene towards Fitzgerald Rd.
Further inquiries have also identified two vehicles of interest which were seen travelling in convoy in the area about 45 minutes before the murder.
Both were believed to be dark in colour — the first possibly a late model Ford Falcon sedan and the second possibly a BMW two-door coupe or similar.
It’s believed three men were in the vehicles.
They have been urged to come forward to assist police with their inquiries.
Investigators say Mr Truong had recently secretly built the hydroponic cannabis setup in an upstairs bedroom.
He had told his wife she was not to go upstairs as he was in the process of renovating the room in readiness for their baby and wanted it to be a surprise.
He also said it would be possibly dangerous given she was pregnant.
Police have released a computer-generate image of the intruder.
Anyone with information or who saw the vehicles in question or anything suspicious is urged to contact Crime Stoppers via 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au.