Why cafe owners abducted ex-employee and held him for ransom

When two cafe owners noticed that money had been missing from the till, they took matters into their own hands in a bloody workplace dispute.

Two “upstanding” cafe owners were “provoked” into kidnapping a former employee and holding him for ransom after finding him with his hand in the till, a court has been told.

The details of the terrifying abduction can finally be revealed after Dominic Tran was sentenced in the NSW District Court last month, nearly a year after married couple Nathan Yeung and Ann Ngo learned their fate.

The trio co-owned the award-winning Vietnamese restaurant Mama Hong’s on Sydney’s lower north shore when they noticed in March 2022 cash was mysteriously disappearing.

At 9pm on March 22, Yeung and Tran were alerted that someone was inside the cafe and rushed there to find a former kitchen hand trying to take money out of the register.

Ann Ngo and Nathan Yeung admitted to kidnapping a former employee and holding him for ransom after finding him with his hand in the till. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

The court documents reveal he had been using a copy of the keys to sneak into the restaurant and steal money every few days. He had stolen $2500 from the trio over two weeks.

Yeung and Tran grabbed the former staffer before he could run away and the victim was hit with a flurry of slaps, punches and kicks.

They cable-tied his hands, took his belongings and cut his hair before Yeung slapped him twice across the face with a plastic bucket lid.

The cafe owners then shoved him into a car before collecting Ngo as they drove to the victim’s mother’s house in Chatswood to demand their money back.

According to the court documents, Ngo later told police the trio had hoped to “resolve it, you know, without having to go to the police”.

The victim’s mother was not at home, so Ngo called her to tell her that her son had been “stealing money from (the cafe)” and “comes every night” to pilfer from the business.

“He has taken a lot of money. If he don’t (sic) give it back, I will take him to the police now,” Ngo told her.

Yeung assaulted the ex-employee inside the cafe. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

The former staffer’s mum agreed to repay the stolen $2500 and asked for video footage of her son stealing from the business.

Ngo sent her the business’s bank details and a still image from the cafe’s CCTV footage that showed the ex-employee with his hand in the till.

She also took a photo of the young man while he was bleeding from his nose in the rear passenger seat.

Once Ngo was satisfied the money was paid in full, the business partners drove the victim to a park in Drummoyne and cut the cable ties securing his hands.

The victim spent three days in hospital for the treatment of his injuries.

The ringleaders of the abduction, Yeung and Ngo, were surrounded by family and friends when they were sentenced by the NSW District Court in June last year.

As they waited to learn their fates for kidnapping their former employee, Yeung tenderly kissed his wife on the forehead.

The court was told Ngo orchestrated the ransom demand. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

She released the ex-employee after she was satisfied the money had been paid. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

The court was told he was overwhelmed with anxiety and stress at the time of the offences and was paranoid after previously being defrauded.

“My Yeung acknowledged his actions were impulsive, reckless, and disproportionate to the situation,” Judge Andrew Scotting said.

Glowing references tendered to the court praised the chef as “hardworking”, “kind” and “dedicated” and lauded Ngo as “caring”, “compassionate”, and “hardworking”.

“All of the references described the offending as out of character,” Judge Scotting acknowledged.

He noted the couple had used their cafe to raise money for Doctors Without Borders and described them as “upstanding members of society”.

The judge found the kidnapping had been an “unplanned and spontaneous response to the victim stealing” from Yeung and Ngo at a time when they were both living with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ngo and Yeung were sentenced to intensive corrections orders last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

“The victim provoked the offenders by abusing their trust and taking advantage of them on multiple occasions,” he said.

“I am satisfied the offenders would not have committed the offences absent this serious provocation.”

Judge Scotting determined both kidnappers had shown remorse for their actions and recognised the harm done to the victim and the community.

“They have learnt a significant lesson from the events and they are unlikely to offend again,” he said.

He sentenced Yeung to an intensive corrections order lasting one year and nine months for detaining a person in company with intent to ransom occasioning actual bodily harm.

The sentence will expire in March next year.

Ngo was handed a 10-month intensive corrections order for detaining a person in company with intent to ransom. She has already completed her sentence.

The couple hugged their lawyers after the verdict was delivered. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

Nearly a year after their sentences were handed down, the couple’s business partner Tran was last month sentenced in the NSW District Court over his role in the saga.

He was sentenced to a 15-month community corrections order for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in the company of another person.

His sentence will expire in July next year.

The court was told Mama Hong’s was forced to permanently shut its doors after the news of the violent kidnapping broke.

Originally published as Why cafe owners abducted ex-employee and held him for ransom