Prostitutes thrown to crocs

2005-05-17 13:35

Sydney - Two teenagers were on Tuesday ordered to spend at least 25 years in prison for killing two Thai prostitutes who were bound and thrown alive into a crocodile-infested river in northern Australia.

Ben William McLean and Phu Ngoc Trinh, both 19, bound the women with cable ties and rope and threw them into the Adelaide River south-east of the northern city of Darwin in March last year.

Judge Dean Mildren said in a Darwin court that Trinh was the main offender in planning the murders, with McLean assisting him.

The pair had both been given mandatory life sentences after being found guilty in March. Tuesday's session was to announce a non-parole period.

Mildren said it was with hesitation that he did not set Trinh's non-parole period higher.

"There's no doubt that these were horrific murders," the judge said, as quoted by the Australian Associated Press. "Although both of the prisoners have expressed some belated sorrow for their victims, there's no evidence of any real contrition."

The teenagers have maintained their innocence and are appealing against their convictions.

The trial in March was told the bodies of Phuangsri Kroksamrang, 58, and Somjai Insamnan, 27, had been weighed down with car batteries. They were found by tour operators conducting crocodile-spotting cruises on the river.

Both youths had admitted having sex with the prostitutes but claimed an Asian crime gang killed them.

Trinh admitted his part in the murders in a videotaped police interview that he later recanted.

In the video he said he killed the women because "just suddenly something really irritated me, can't remember (what) but it just ticked me off really bad."

- AFP