Second man charged over alleged kidnapping, torture murder

A second person has been charged with the murder of a man who police allege was taken, along with two others, and tortured in Brisbane’s southwest. It comes after a man with alleged bikie links was charged last week.

Police at Rudyard St, Inala, after a man, 52, died in hospital after an alleged bashing in the area. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Detectives have charged a second man over the murder of Van Dam Nguyen, who was allegedly seriously assaulted before he died in hospital.

Mr Nguyen, 52, was allegedly assaulted near Rudyard St in Inala, in Brisbane’s southwest, about 6.30pm on January 5.

Several hours later, police were called to Logan Hospital around 12.30am on January 6 after Mr Nguyen arrived at the hospital with significant head injuries.

He was transported to a specialist care facility but died from his injuries on January 7.

Detectives last week charged a man they allege is linked to the Comanchero bikie gang, 31-year-old Samuel David Vernon, with his murder.

Vernon has also been charged with grievous bodily harm, armed robbery and two counts each of torture and kidnapping. He has been remanded in custody.

Samuel Vernon, 31, was arrested last week.

On Sunday police executed a search warrant at a commercial business on Bukulla St, Wacol. A crime scene remains at the property.

A second man, a 32-year-old from Griffin was arrested in Griffin about 8am on Thursday.

He has been charged with murder, armed robbery, grievous bodily harm and two counts each of kidnapping and torture.

He was due before Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Police will allege the three men knew each other.

Detective Inspector Chris Knight last Friday said Mr Nguyen was among three men allegedly taken against their will at Rudyard St and allegedly tortured by a group of people – including Vernon – after a planned meet-up.

“At that location, they were taken against their will and under the threat of extreme violence,” Inspector Knight alleged last week.

“They were taken to another location and where they were subject to more violence over a number of hours, before being returned to their vehicle.”

Police investigating the alleged murder released images of a silver Jaguar. Picture: QPS

Mr Nguyen was taken by his friends to hospital, where the extent of his brain injuries were realised. One friend also suffered a broken leg and the other suffered serious facial injuries.

Multiple agencies were involved in the investigation, including Taskforce Maxima which investigates and arrests members of outlaw motorcycle gangs.

“We certainly do accept and are alleging there is a degree of organisation that occurred,” Inspector Knight said last Friday.

“The people that they met at that location, we believe, was a co-ordinated effort to extort and rob.

“We don’t for one second think this was a random event that occurred. We believe they either knew them personally, or were introduced by a third party, but some of those facts were still being explored.”

Inspector Knight said the investigation was not over and a team of more than 30 officers were working to track down others involved.

“It’s large. Probably for the last five days at least, we have had a very concentrated cohort of detectives that I would conservatively estimate in the 30s,” he said.

“I’ve been a police officer for a long time, and any violence that results in a person’s death is absolutely deplorable, but the extent of the violence in this matter is even above those normal expectations … it is highly unusual.”

Inspector Knight also asked for urgent assistance to locate a silver 2008 Jaguar sedan and urged anyone who had information about the incident to come forward and speak with police.

Originally published as Second man charged over alleged kidnapping, torture murder