Casefile True Crime - Case 40: John Newman

Episode Date: December 10, 2016

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta was a hotbed for criminal activity. Heroin use was rife and users flocked to the area looking for their next fix. As was to be expected, the drug epidemic resulted in an increase in violent crime, including gangs, home invasions, robberies, extortions, kidnappings, and worse. --- Research for this episode by Victoria Dieffenbacher. Co-written by Victoria Dieffenbacher and the Anonymous Host. For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-40-john-newman

Have you ever tried BBQ on BBQ? Picture this. Freshly prepared crispy seasoned chicken that's tossed in a smoky barbecue glaze and topped with a creamy barbecue sauce. Can't picture it? Well you can try it now at Tim's. Get our new BBQ crispy chicken loaded bowls and wraps for a limited time. Cabramatta is a suburb of Sydney, Australia located 30km or 18 miles southwest of the Central Business District. Only about 30% of the 20,000 residents of Cabramatta were born in Australia. It is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the country. The largest percentage of residents are Vietnamese, followed by Chinese, Thais, Cambodians and many other nationalities. In the late 80s and 90s, Cabramatta was a hotbed for crime. Heroin was rife throughout the suburb. Cabramatta Railway Station was known as the Junkie Express, with users pouring in from all over looking for their fix. And where there is a huge drug problem, there is crime. Violent gangs, home invasions, robberies, bashings, extortions, kidnappings and murder. Cabramatta Primary School John Normenko was born in 1946 in Austria. He moved to Australia with his parents when he was 4 and they settled in Cabramatta. John attended Cabramatta Primary School and later Liverpool Boys High School. In 1969, at the age of 23, he became one of the new South Wales youngest trade union organisers. In 1972, John changed his name by Deedpole to John Newman and in 1973, he got married to his wife Mary. Two years later, they had a son, David. In 1977, John's political career officially began as an ornament for Fairfield Council, which covered Cabramatta. Only a few weeks before Christmas in 77, John's wife Mary and their son David were killed in a car crash. Mary was handing out pamphlets for the upcoming Fairfield Council elections. She was also pregnant at the time with their second child. After this tragedy, John threw himself completely into politics. He worked day and night. He was re-elected as an ornament for Fairfield Council in 1980 and again in 1983. In 1985, he became Fairfield's deputy mayor and in 1986, he was the acting mayor.

On the 1st of February, the same year, John ran for pre-selection for the New South Wales State seat of Cabramatta and he was elected. So John was now a member of the New South Wales Parliament, an MP, representing the seat of Cabramatta as part of the Labour Party. His close friend, Ken Chapman, became his electoral officer. From the moment John entered Cabramatta's state seat, he fought relentlessly against the increasing presence of drugs, gangs and crime that was taking over the entire suburb. The most notorious gang in Cabramatta at the time was 5T. 5T evolved out of the Vietnamese prison gangs in California. The gangs there were known as 4T. Each member had a gothic type of tattoo on their arms or the back of their necks and only prisoners who committed felony offences were worthy enough to become part of the gang. The 5T gang was started by mainly troubled youths, the children of Vietnamese immigrants who made their way to Australia after the Vietnam War. 5T stands for 5 Vietnamese words with the meanings love, money, prison, crime and revenge or death. 5T also means childhood without love.

The leader of the gang was Tray Minh Tran. In 1989, Tran, who was only 14 years old, stabbed a man to death. He along with two other gang members were charged, but the charges were later reduced to manslaughter. The two other gang members plead guilty, but Tray Minh Tran pleaded not guilty. After a trial in the Children's Court, he was acquitted and set free. And with that, Tran believed he was unstoppable. 5T started selling heroin in the streets of Cabramatta. The purity was so good that they attracted customers from all over Sydney and even further away. One heroin shot from Cabramatta was said to be three times stronger than one bored in the centre of Sydney, which meant deaths from overdoses were commonplace. It was not an unusual sight to see unconscious people lying in the streets of Cabramatta with syringes all over the ground. Apart from the sale of drugs, 5T were notorious for extortions and home invasions.

The extortions were done on business owners in the area. They had to pay $500 every week, protection money. Failure to pay meant the business would be destroyed by the gang and anyone inside would be assaulted. Business owners were also expected to keep heroin hidden inside whatever they traded in, so 5T members would hide drugs inside fruit, vegetables, fashion items, hardware and pretty much anything else you can think of. 5T would also visit restaurants. If the owner asked them to pay, the response from the gang would be to assault the patrons and employees and trash the place. Business owners knew if they ever called the police, they would face severe retribution. As for the home invasions, the gang would choose a wealthy person or a rival drug dealer and they'd follow them home. Then they'd kick in the doors, smash windows and run inside, brandishing knives and guns. They'd assault the occupants and steal whatever they could. As they left, they warned whoever was inside not to report it to the police or they'd come back and kill.

Many members of the Vietnamese community had a severe distrust of people in uniform anyway, given what they had experienced in Vietnam, so they were reluctant to talk to the police. 5T used fear to create an even bigger wall of silence between the public and police. There wasn't much police could do against the gang. For starters, only about one third of home invasions and extortions were reported. And of those that were reported, no one was willing to actually give evidence and testify against the gang. 5T continued to grow and get more powerful. By 1993, 5T had 40 members and 200 associates. Those 240 people actually outnumbered the police in Cabra Matter. On the occasions that a member happened to be arrested, they were instantly provided with a high-priced lawyer and always seemed to be able to get out on bail. Over and over again it would happen. The gang always celebrated the release of a member by going to a local restaurant. It was important for them to show their faces in public and to show others that the police couldn't stop them.

The charges would usually fall over before they got to court anyway. Any witnesses the police did have wouldn't turn up or would go into hiding or worse. Nobody would take the stand against 5T. It was John Newman who pointed out repeatedly that the reason behind the gang being so successful was fear. The fear they were injecting into the community and the total lack of fear of the gang members. This is John Newman speaking in 1989. The Asian gangs involved don't fear our laws, but there's one thing that they do fear. And that's possible deportation back to the jungles of Vietnam because that's where friendly they belong. In September 1989, John wrote to the NSW Police Minister, warning him of a lack of police resources in Cabra Matter and pleaded with him to please deal with the problem.

Yet it wasn't until 1993 that John really started upping the anti-publicly. On the 24th of March he wrote an article about the home invasions titled Urban Terrorism in which he warned Asian families to lock their doors because people are not just pulled up, they are terrorized in the worst possible way with the threat of murder in a returned visit. The same month he declared, for every home hold up reported there are two which remain silent. On the 28th of April John spoke to the NSW Parliament where he said there had been 34 reported home invasions in Cabra Matter in the last 12 months. And the only answer provided by the parliament so far had been to send out a minister to Cabra Matter to meet with members of the community. John pointed out to the parliament that this minister met with the wrong people. One was linked to standovers, one was linked to drugs and the other was linked to the illegal sex trade. Quite obviously these people were part of the problem, not part of the community members being terrorized.

John also campaigned for the deportation of gang members back to Vietnam if they were convicted of an offence. He was seen as racist by many because of this. He was successful in starting Task Force Oak, a specialised police operation looking into Asian gang crime in Cabra Matter. Also the NSW Government reclassified home invasion. They created a specific offence called aggravated break and enter and they introduced a harsher penalty for those convicted. However the home invasions continued. In September 1993 there were three particularly violent home invasions committed in three days. In response John handed out pamphlets in Cabra Matter's main street with instructions as to how to protect yourself and your family.

He also encouraged residents to trust police and to report what they saw. In December 1993 John's car was vandalised and his Asian Affairs advisor received two letters that threatened John's life. John didn't take it too seriously and in an article he described the attacks as cowardly and occupational hazard and something that above all would not deter him from continuing. On the 6th January 1994 John received a message on his electoral office answering machine. It said, hello Newman you die first we paint your car then we take your toenails you die. Two days later John's car had paint thrown all over it. It was parked in the driveway of his home at the time. John's response to the threat was to hand out more pamphlets in Cabra Matter's main street warning residents to please take care. He also wrote to the NSW Speaker of the Legislative Assembly asking him to look into security measures for local electoral officers particularly when threats of violence had been made to staff.

On the 24th of March he wrote another letter to the NSW Police Minister pleading with him to do something about the home invasions that were still commonplace and were terrorising the Cabra Matter community. He also requested an increase in the sentence from 10 to 15 years for those convicted of the offence. In May he gave a speech at the NSW Parliament where he talked about the threats he had received. Later in 1994 he was interviewed on ABC Radio and when asked about the threats he said, quote, I don't think they are at the serious extent yet of actually wanting to kill me. I think they're threatening me. I'm cutting off their supply. But I know the Asian mode of thinking and unless I personally sort of hurt these people I'm not too sure if they are serious. They could be. I mean my dear mother's worried every time she hears me on the radio. She says, look, back off. It's not worth it. On Monday the 5th of September 1994 John was in his electoral office with his fiance Lucy Wayne and his close friend and electoral officer Ken Chapman.

They were counting fundraising money from an event they held on the weekend. At 8pm John drove to the Cabra Matter Diggers Club for a monthly meeting where he reported state matters concerning the Labor Party. He spoke about different issues including gang crime and he talked about a trip he'd taken previously to Los Angeles where he'd taken notes about the actions made there to combat gangs. The meeting finished at 9.10pm and at 9.29pm John arrived home. He parked his car in the driveway and started putting a car cover over it. His fiance Lucy saw him and walked outside to help him put the car cover on. As they were doing so a hooded man wearing an army style jacket appeared out of the dark. He fired four gunshots at John. Two of them hit him. One hit the roof of the car and one hit the porch area of the house. The hooded man ran and jumped in the back seat of a waiting car which then sped off. Lucy screamed while chasing after the car but it was quickly out of sight.

Lucy then ran back to the house and called triple O. Lucy said their neighbor Derrick had actually called triple zero twenty seconds before Lucy. He heard five gunshots coming from John's hair. Their neighbor Derrick had actually called triple zero twenty seconds before Lucy. He heard five gunshots coming from John's hair. He walked outside and saw a car driving past. The car didn't have the headlights on, but he recognized that it was either a Ford XD or a Ford XE. He also thought the color was either a dark blue or green, but due to the darkness in the street, he was unable to give any other information. He ran back inside his house and called triple zero. After that call, he ran to John's house and saw John lying on his back. He took the phone off Lucy to finish

her call, then attempted to resuscitate John until help arrived. John was dead by the time paramedics arrived. In fact, paramedics believed his death had been instant because of the wounds. One bullet had entered the upper left side of his torso, and the other his upper right side, both near vital organs. A number of police soon arrived. A crime scene was established, and the street was cordoned off. A broadcast was released just minutes after the shooting, with a description of the car they were looking for based on what Derek had seen. And it didn't take long for journalists and film crews to turn up and cover the story. When John's mother Helen arrived, she broke away from the police who were trying to hold

her back, and she ran to John. She jumped on his body and hugged him fiercely. To the officer's surprise, her nose started bleeding uncontrollably. It's believed that was most likely a result of a blood pressure rising. Another thing that haunts the police who were on scene was Lucy, who was sitting on the front doorstep of the house, screaming and crying. A few hours after the murder, a senior police officer gave a press conference where he gave limited details about the murder, but he did state where it happened and who the victim was. It was at this moment that John's murder was recognised as Australia's first ever political assassination. Meanwhile, detectives concentrated on getting witnesses to talk.

They wanted to act while the events were still fresh on people's minds. Also, given the nature of the assassination and the possible gang involvement, they didn't want those same witnesses later choosing to keep their mouths shut. So they acted immediately and took them to Cabramatta Police Station for questioning. All of the witnesses gave different accounts. Some believed they'd heard four shots, others three, and others five. It was determined early on in the investigation that there were four shots, as four cartridges were found at the scene. A neighbour who lived in John Street, Haco Laid, was in his study at 9.30pm talking to his flatmate. He heard the gunshots, and both he and his flatmate ran outside.

Haco could hear screaming coming from John's house, and he saw a medium-sized white sedan with its headlights off driving towards him. Haco looked at the car and made a mental note to remember the registration plate. Another witness was John's friend, Ken Chapman. He was working at home at the time of the murder. 45 minutes later, a member of the Cabramatta branch of the Australian Labor Party, who lived the next door to John, called him to let him know. Ken drove to John's house and was stopped at the police cordon. He ended up going to the neighbour's house and called other senior members of the Australian Labor Party to notify them about John's death. At one point, he came out of the house and saw John's body. He said that was a

moment he'd never forget. Eventually, one of the detectives asked him to go to the police station for an interview. Ken pointed a finger at one person without hesitation. He said, politically, the person most to gain by John's death would be Fung Nho. Fung Nho was born on the 9th of July, 1958, in a village near Saigon, Vietnam. He attended a school in Saigon, and once he finished, he studied arts with a major in French. In 1975, the communist North Vietnamese took over Saigon, putting an end to the Vietnam War. Many of the residents were sent to re-education camps, where they could be held for years, suffering both mental and physical harm. Fung Nho was sent to these camps, both in Saigon and in Vung Tau, a port city almost 100

kilometres south. Fung made several escape attempts. After one of his attempts, he ended up in another camp in Cao Mau, almost 400 kilometres south of Vung Tau. He remained there for 16 months, and with his brother Trong, Fung made 12 attempts to escape by boat. They were eventually successful and went to Malaysia, where they stayed at a refugee camp. After spending some time there, Fung and his brother Trong made their way to Sydney, Australia. As soon as Fung arrived, he joined the Vietnamese youth group, which operated in hostels for recent immigrants. He volunteered as a broadcaster at a local radio station, where he read Vietnamese poetry. Two years after arriving in Sydney, he became an ethnic advisor at Canterbury Council.

In 1987, he moved to Queensland, where he worked for different Vietnamese groups, such as the Vietnamese Catholic Community and the Vietnamese Community Organization. He also volunteered once again for local radio. In 1989, he moved back to Sydney and settled in Cabramatta. As he had done before, Fung joined various local groups, including the Cabramatta Community Centre, the Fairfield Migrant Resource Centre, Cabramatta's Skillshare, the Cabramatta Town Centre Committee, and the Vietnam War Memorial Committee. He became so prominent in the suburb that in 1989, he became the Deputy Mayor of Fairfield Council, and it was at this time he met John Newman. In 1990, the NSW's Ethnic Affairs Commission appointed Fung as the full-time commissioner,

and considering Cabramatta is formed by a lot of Vietnamese residents, this made Fung extremely affluent within the community. He also started two different businesses, a real estate company, and a Vietnamese newspaper. He had aspirations to go further in politics, and he joined the NSW Liberal Party. However, he didn't get pre-selected for a liberal seat. So in 1991, he nominated himself and ran as an independent for the NSW State Seat of Cabramatta. He was competing directly against John Newman. Fung issued press releases and announced he would bring changes, and he would listen to the people if he was elected. He launched his campaign in a local bar which was known as a Hangout for Five Tea and their

associates, as well as other known crime figures in the area. It was a controversial move. However, Fung received full support from Nick Leilich, who was then the mayor of Fairfield, and is today Cabramatta's member of parliament. The election didn't go in Fung's favour. He ran behind both the Liberal candidate and John, who was the Labor candidate. John won the election easily, securing three times the amount of votes. In 1993, Fung changed sides and joined the Australian Labor Party, John's party. Nick Leilich once again fully supported Fung Know, and stated, I believe the membership of the party would be greatly enhanced by the presence of Mr Know. John wasn't so convinced. He had been keeping his eye on Fung since the previous year,

as he suspected he was involved in business with Trie Min Tran, the Five Tea gang leader. John began following Fung's every step very closely. Fung's beginning in the Labor Party was extremely successful. He raised $50,000 in one night, and recruited many new members. He even reopened one branch of the Labor Party that had been previously closed, the branch of Canley Vale, the suburb next to Cabramatta. In less than a year, he had more than 100 members, most of them Vietnamese. None of the branch meetings were actually held at Canley Vale, though. They were held at the Mekong Club. The Mekong Club opened on the 6th of July, 1993. The opening was officiated by Bill Hayden,

the Governor-General of Australia. John Newman refused to attend the opening as a matter of principle, as the place was filled with poker machines. He considered it to be nothing but a gambling den. Fung was the Mekong Club's honorary president. Fung said that gambling was simply a fact of life, and since it was existing anyway, they should use the money to help out the residents of Cabramatta. Only five days after the Mekong Club opened, Fung started to withdraw money from the club to himself, in the form of cash advances and loans. In cash advances alone, he withdrew $78,641. Fung's official title was honorary president of the club, but he did far more. He managed the club's finances, including negotiating the

loans that financed the club, as well as acted as the club's representative in other financial transactions. He did this without the approval of the licensing court of New South Wales. He also hired and managed the staff, ran the administration, and all the gaming and liquor operations. Fung kept the entire club's financial records and registers inside his office, and his office wasn't even at the club. Nobody else was allowed to look at the club's books. The Mekong Club paid for Fung's mobile phone, power bills, jewellery, his car, even things like a lawn mower, when the club didn't have a lawn to mow. Apart from the questionable financial control Fung was exerting at the club,

John Newman had heard the 5T gang were regular visitors. They were said to be holding meetings there where they would discuss crime plans, extortions, home invasions, and heroin distribution. It was at this point that John asked for inspections on the Mekong Club. When Fung heard about this, he placed Marion Lay, who was essentially his right hand, as the honorary president. She was interviewed on the radio and stated there was absolutely nothing criminal happening inside the club, and they were only being targeted because they were Asians. In December 1993, there were various assaults near the Mekong Club. John issued a press release, pushing for Fairfield Council to investigate and monitor the club.

The council did send an inspector to check out security, but the inspector went during their day. All of the trouble was happening at night. Still, Fung was an alderman at Fairfield City Council, and the fact that security checks were being asked on the club he represented didn't look good for him. Around this time, Fung was also arranging for Hisinchu City, a city in Taiwan, to be a sister city of Fairfield. Sister cities are an agreement between two cities to promote cultural and commercial ties. Fairfield's mayor, Nick Laylich, endorsed Fung's push to have Hisinchu City as a sister city. However, it was a very complicated matter. Taiwan was going through its independence from China, and China was fighting to remain as one. The Australian government was actually supportive

of China, so if the arrangement with the city from Taiwan occurred, it could create a big political problem between China and Australia. On 15 February 1994, the Taiwanese director general sent a letter to Fung, stating he wanted to visit Fairfield in June to finalise the sister city arrangement. He also insisted that he wanted Hisinchu City to be officially referred to as Hisinchu City, Taiwan, Republic of China. This created an issue because the only ones authorized to be referred to as the Republic of China were the People's Republic of China. Attached to the letter, the director general sent a check for $117,000. John wasn't having it. Fairfield's Labor Council has received a letter from the Cabramatta State Electoral

Council in July 1994, saying the arrangement was made without any consultation with the Cabramatta Chinese community, and it was also a breach of the federal Labor government policy on the designated title for Taiwan. In other words, the arrangement wasn't happening. It was another blow for Fung delivered by John Newman. Another public blow Fung suffered was when he launched the media debate about legalising sex work in New South Wales. John's response to Fung was through the media, quote, The solution is not simply the legalisation of the industry, but more so how you control the associated crime. Councillor Noe has no idea of the difficulties involved and should concentrate

on the real issues of local government, such as Cabramatta's parking, cleaning and public amenities. Ken Chapman gave a statement to police highlighting the various details of the complicated relationship between Fung and John, and he wasn't the only one to mention Fung. Heiko Laid, the witness who lived in John Street and made a mental note of the registration plate of the car that passed him, recalled a plate that was very similar to Fung's Toyota Camry. The registration plate Heiko remembered was GHQ456. Fung's registration plate was the STQ956. On top of that, Heiko said the car was a white sedan. Fung's Toyota Camry was indeed white. Detectives checked the roads and traffic authority computer to search for the registration number

Heiko gave them. There was no exact match, so they compiled a list of all similar registrations that matched the white sedan in Cabramatta. There were several, but they kept in mind that Fung's was one of them. Two other witnesses, a married couple known only as Mr and Mrs L, came forward and said that at 9.45pm on September 3rd, two days before John's murder, they were returning home, which was close to John's house. Mr L saw a man standing next to a parked white sedan. Mr L immediately recognized the man as Fung No. He'd seen him appear on TV and newspapers, as well as at restaurants, community functions, and walking around the streets of Cabramatta. Mr L was surprised to see such a public figure there, when he'd never seen

him in the area before. Mrs L didn't recognize him at first, since it was dark, but they ended up driving directly past him and were only a metre away, and she clearly saw it was Fung No at that time. Another witness who also lived close by said that at 3pm on September 3rd, she saw a white Camry sedan parked on Bowden Street, close to John Street. There was only one person in the car. The witness couldn't make out who it was, and the Camry drove off after about five minutes. Three more witnesses, all sisters living in a house on Bowden Street, said that between 9.30 and 11pm on September 3rd, a green Ford was parked near their home. One of the sisters described the car in detail as a jade green Ford Fairlane ZJ. She saw the car from her bedroom window.

It stayed parked with the engine running for five minutes before it was turned off. The car remained parked for about an hour. She wasn't able to see who was inside, as it was too dark. What interested detectives about this was that a car parked outside the sister's house would have a clear view of John's house, but it wasn't close enough to John's house to raise suspicion. It was a great place to do surveillance. Television and radio ran hourly updates on John's murder and how the investigation was progressing. Many journalists, television reporters and media personalities were in cover matter covering the event. One journalist said it was one of the biggest news events this country has ever seen.

The Australian Prime Minister at the time was Paul Keating. He was in Japan when the murder occurred. When interviewed, he described John as a friend and simply said he was lost for words. The New South Wales Premier, John Fay, said that he couldn't comprehend what happened. It seemed too surreal. Detectives kept knocking on doors to see if they could uncover any more information. The truth was that although several witnesses had spoken and one even named a possible suspect, there still wasn't much to go by in terms of actual evidence. All of the witnesses were shown vehicle identification books in order to give a positive identification of the cars they saw, and almost every witness pointed at a different model car. Lucy, who was the closest one to the

killer, didn't get a good look at him. She described him as a skinny kind of person wearing baggy clothes, a yellowish or greenish army jacket, and something covering his head. A ballistics expert identified the spent cartridges as coming from a .32 caliber gun. They had markings from what appeared to be a flat firing pin. The ballistics expert had never seen such markings before, so it was rare. He wasn't able to locate any weapon in Australia that could match. On the 6th of September, police searched John's electoral office. Inside, they found documents that pointed at Lucy. They detailed an affair she had while she was with John. This provided speculation, mainly for the media, to look at Lucy and wonder if it

might have been her old lover who killed John. They also found a number of documents that gave a detailed account of Fung's activities, and it showed clearly how much John had investigated him. Police decided to pay Fung a visit, but he had left the country. He left two days after the murder on a trip to Taiwan, representing Fairfield Council. He returned on the 14th of September. Detectives were waiting for him at the airport. They took him to Cabramatta police station for a recorded interview. Fung denied any involvement or knowledge of the murder. He also denied buying or having any knowledge about a gun. Fung said that on the day of the murder, September 5th, he went to see a Buddhist monk at the Buddhist church at 6.30pm. Then he went to

the Mekong club, arriving at 8.15pm. He stayed for a staff meeting and afterwards for dinner. Between 9.30pm and 10pm, he left the club and went to his office, where he stayed for about an hour. About 10.30 or 11pm, he returned to the Mekong club and stayed until closing time, which was midnight. During the night, he claimed he received two Fung calls. One was at his office from Nick Leilich to inform him that a politician had been shot. The second call was received at the club from Leilich again, to inform him it was John Newman who had been shot. When Fung left the club at closing, he was escorted to his car, which was parked at its usual spot. He said he'd had the keys the entire night, so there was no chance someone else could have used it. He drove home,

where he was met by his nephew and a friend. The detectives allowed Fung to leave the station after this interview. The media was waiting for him. There was a dispute as to whether or not John should receive a state funeral, which were usually reserved for Prime Ministers, Premiers and other distinguished decked servicemen. Premier Faye ended up deciding John should be given a state funeral, since he died whilst in public office, and it was the first political assassination in the country. Nearly all political figures attended, together with both sides of Parliament, family and friends. The NSW Parliament had a joint sitting of both houses to honour John,

and Premier Faye gave his speech, part of which said, quote, It is with regret that I'll move this condolence motion to mark the passing of John Newman, the honourable member for Cabra Matter, and to offer the deepest sympathy of this house to his family and fiance. All members of the Parliament were deeply shocked by John Newman's death, and by the horrible circumstances in which it occurred. The shooting of a member of Parliament has also rightly outraged all of Australia. It is too early to speculate about the motive, but if John Newman's murder was a political act, it was an attack on every member of this house, and on each of his constituents. We in Australia pride ourselves on the fact that our community

leaders, including our politicians, should be able to serve their communities without fearing for their own personal safety. John Newman's death has caused us to re-appraise this view. For 24 hours, Parliament suspended all activity as a measure of respect. Detectives continued to focus on Fung and his activities on September 3rd, when he was seen near John's house, and September 5th, when John was murdered. Detectives interviewed two of Fung's employees at the Mekong Club. The first was David Din, who gave a statement on October 18th. He said he was working the entire night of September 5th, and he didn't even hear about the murder until the next day. This seemed odd,

since almost everyone in Cabra Matter had heard about the murder the night it happened. On December 13th, Din was formally questioned at the police station. His questioning was recorded. This time, Din said that he had heard about the murder the night it happened, whilst working at the club. The other worker interviewed was Quang Dao, the owner of a green Ford sedan. He was first interviewed on September 19th. He described himself as a good friend of Fung. He admitted he didn't like John Newman, as John had blocked his membership to the Labor Party. On September 5th, he said he was at the Mekong Club. He left the club once at 9.30pm to drive to his house and pick up his children. He said he took Fung's white Camry without Fung's permission,

and then returned to the car 10 or 15 minutes later. He said he parked it in the same spot, so Fung wouldn't know he had taken it. On December 13th, he was interviewed again, and he said he had only actually left the club for four minutes in total, no longer. On December 14th, Fung was interviewed again, and this time he turned up with a lawyer. He was electronically recorded and gave the same version as before. The detectives asked him to explain the discrepancy between his version and Dao's version, since according to Dao, he'd taken Fung's white Camry during the night, and according to Fung, he'd had the keys to the car the entire time, and he said there was no way anyone could have taken

it. Fung answered that he was mistaken in his previous interview, and he didn't actually have his keys with him the entire time, so it was possible Quang Dao took his car. When asked about being seen on September 3rd near John's house by witnesses Mr and Mrs L, Fung denied being there. He said he didn't even know the streets, but then he changed his position and said he actually used to visit a friend that lived in that area. In the meantime, people in Fung's camp started speculating that John had corrupt connections with criminals. In one article, a journalist said John's fight against crime was nothing but a facade to hide his own dark motives. Marion Lay appeared on an ABC television show Four Corners and said that John had a dark past.

He associated with mafia members, and that he had set himself up for his own murder to happen. Another person who was considered a suspect was Trimin Tran, leader of the 5T gang. However, he himself was shot dead in August 95. His closest associate in the 5T gang was also shot dead in that attack. He was looked at closely but eventually ruled out as having any involvement in John Newman's murder. The murder of Trimin Tran changed things around Cabramatta too. Without his leadership, members of the 5T branched out and formed their own gangs. Gang violence increased for a period of time since there were more gangs to compete against each other. On the 11th of September 1995, detectives made a request to the New South Wales Crime Commission

to investigate certain aspects of John's murder. The assistance of the Crime Commission was sought by detectives because they still didn't have any hard evidence, and the Commission had the power to oblige witnesses to cooperate. Otherwise, a legal penalty could be imposed, including a jail sentence. So because the Crime Commission had this power, what witnesses say to the Crime Commission is not admissible in a criminal court, as witnesses are essentially forced to cooperate. However, it can still help investigators advance with a case. The Commission called in a number of witnesses to Kent Street, Sydney, where their building was located. And some of the witnesses were able to help fill in the holes of what happened on the 5th

of September 1994. After hearing this information, detectives sent a brief of evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions twice. The brief was rejected on both occasions. Prosecutors said there simply wasn't enough evidence to charge anybody. Close to four years passed before a coronial inquest was held on the 2nd of February 1998. It took place at Westmead Coroners Court, and the Deputy State Coroner, Gene Stevenson, led the inquest. A coronial inquest tends to be sought out when all lines of inquiry have been exhausted and the case remains unsolved. The big difference between a coroner's court and a criminal court is hearsay evidence is allowed in the coroner's court, whereas hearsay

evidence is generally not admissible in a criminal court, although there are some exceptions. Witnesses also have to appear before the coroner if they are called. However, they can decline to answer questions if the answer may incriminate them. As you heard in Case 13, the Family Law Court murders. Four persons of interest were named at the inquest. Fung Ngo, and three of his employees at the Mekong Club. Quang Dao and David Dinh, who we have already spoken about, and the fourth employee, Tuan Tran. The first witness called at the inquest was Lucy. She gave evidence of a meeting that John had with a man who donated money to Fung's election campaign, but never actually knew what happened to the

money. She also said John had been looking into the murder of a 17-year-old boy, where there were strong allegations that the 5T gang was responsible. Some witnesses had told John they wanted to talk, but they were afraid of going to the police. Lastly, Lucy emphasized the term John used repeatedly when talking about Fung. He said he was a crook. The second witness was the forensic pathologist, who said the first shot was probably the one that entered John's left side of the chest, and that was the fatal one. The bullet spun him around 180 degrees, and when the second bullet was shot, it entered his right chest area. The third witness was a police ballistics expert, who said the murder weapon could be one of three, one of which he specified was a Beretta 32 caliber

pistol. The fourth witness was Ken Chapman, who once again pointed at Fung. The fifth witness, Tien Nguyen, said Fung had previously shown him a photograph of John Newman and asked him, can you kill this man for me? Pamela Dao, the separated wife of Quang Dao, gave evidence of conversations in Vietnamese that her husband and Fung had before the murder. Six months prior to John's murder, she heard, that jerk Newman, we're going to shoot him, we'll kill him. When she separated from Quang Dao, she threatened to go to the police and tell them about what had been said. Quang grabbed her forcibly by the shirt and said, if you ever tell anyone about what Fung and I said about Newman, I'll get a gun and shoot you. You will get nothing, no house, no kids,

nothing. You just keep your mouth shut. Former secretary of the Mekong Club, Robert Zervis, said that after the murder, David Dinne appeared to have a lot more cash, and he spent a great deal of it in the poker machines. Also, he said he saw Tuan Trian appear one day carrying a silver pistol. Apart from that, Zervis noticed that Fung seemed to have full control of the other three persons of interest in the case, Tuan Trian, David Dinne and Quang Dao. It was almost like they were under his spell. Lastly, Fung had instructed Zervis that if police come to the club and asked to speak to any employees, then Zervis had to immediately call a lawyer and the club would pay the bill. Charlie Chihar was another person to take the stand. Chihar was a security contractor.

He testified that he'd been contacted by Tien Nguyen. The man who testified Fung showed him a photograph of John Newman and asked him if he could kill him. Chihar said Nguyen asked him the same question, so Chihar approached his cousin, showed him John's picture and told him someone wanted to put the heavy word on him. His cousin took one look at the photo, recognised John and said it was too hot for him. Another security contractor who worked with Chihar said that Tuan Trian bought two guns from him and paid him with cash taken from the Mekong club safe. Trian came back to him later and asked him to fit a silencer onto one of the guns. He described as an old .32 caliber pistol.

He tried, but the silencer couldn't be fitted. Another witness said Fung asked him to collect $130,000 from a couple of Vietnamese jewellers. He collected the money and gave it to Fung. The witness denied this was an extortion. Soon after that, the same witness went back to see Fung at his office to collect money that Fung owed to him. When he walked in, the witness said he saw Trim in Trang, the 5T gang leader. He immediately left without asking for the money owed to him because he believed Fung had the 5T guarding his back and the witness was simply too afraid. The four persons of interest were called to the stand on the 14th of March.

All four of them declined to give evidence. Lastly, Telstra phone records were produced at the inquest. Fung had two mobile phones, one which belonged to the Mekong club and the other one which belonged to the Fairfield council. He used both phones, but mostly carried the council phone. On the night of the murder, Fung Towers caught the signal of Fung's phone and detectives were able to put him in certain places, different to where he said he was in his police interviews. The phone records showed that he was in fact close to John's house on September 3rd when he was seen by Mr and Mrs L. They also showed he was near John's house on September 5th around the time of the murder. He made two calls, the first at 9.42pm and the

second at 9.45pm. These records led detectives to trace a path they believed Fung had driven after John's murder. They had him heading through the suburbs of Liverpool, Moorbank and Hammondville towards the Georges River at Voyager Point. Very different to what he had told the police, which was he was at the Mekong club, then at his office, then back to the Mekong club, then home. The 16th of March was supposed to be the last day of the inquest, which had now been running for six weeks. Instead, as they entered the coroner's court, police arrested Fung and Tuwen Tran with murder and solicit to murder. They also arrested Quang Dao for murder and conspiracy to commit murder. David Dinh was the only person of interest who was not arrested that day.

The coroner, Jane Stevenson, congratulated the detectives on their work and finished with a statement. To all those who loved, I can only say something that has been running through my head in recent times. Truth is the daughter of time, and I hope it so proves. Lastly, the council assisting the coroner made a suggestion to the detectives. He told them to try searching the Georges River for the murder weapon, as that's where Fung's phone records looked like he had been headed. Plus, that was the area Fung lived when he first arrived in Australia. Detectives organised for police divers to search the Georges River. The river itself is 96km long, but they focused directly on the area covered by the Telstra Tower where Fung was

detected. In this area, there were two bridges crossing the river, a few kilometers away from each other. One bridge ended in a motorway, and the other in a footbridge over the river near Voyager Point. The detective in charge decided to search below the footbridge first, since it was more accessible. This spot is 8.4km away from John's house, or 5 miles. On the 9th of June, 1998, police divers went into the river, and after searching for 20 minutes that day, one of the divers located a gun. It was 20 meters away from the shoreline, and 4 meters deep. The ballistics expert concluded it was a Beretta 1935 model, 32 calibre pistol. The gun was deeply corroded, but he was still able to remove the firing pin and place it into a surrogate Beretta

pistol to test fire it. The marks were rare, just like the ones left at John's crime scene. The gun was then shown to a firearms dealer. He also concluded it was a Beretta 1935 model, 32 calibre pistol. He also provided the answer as to why the ballistics expert in the beginning wasn't able to identify the gun. This gun had never been marketed in Australia. A second ballistics expert was shown the gun, and after examining the cartridges found at the scene, he concluded they were most likely fired from a Beretta 1935 model, 32 calibre pistol. Lastly, a German ballistics expert saw the original firing pin, and he went one step further. He actually linked the gun to the murder. He stated it was highly

likely that the marks produced by the firing pin were the same as the ones found in the cartridges at the scene. The trials of Fung Ngo, Quang Dao, and Tuan Tran began in July 1999. This trial had to be aborted after eight weeks due to illegal technicality. The second trial was scheduled for six months later, and it was while waiting for that second trial that two key witnesses came forward and wanted to cooperate with police. One of them was one of the accused, Tuan Tran. Tuan Tran not only admitted his involvement in the murder, but along with the other witness, known only as Mr N, they gave the full story of what happened. The following is the story alleged by Tuan Tran and Mr N.

At the end of 1993, both Tuan Tran and Mr N were asked to get weapons by Fung. Tran bought a 22 calibre shortened rifle for $200. Mr N bought the Beretta 32 calibre pistol for $1,500. September 5th wasn't the only time they had tried to take John's life. There were several previous planned attacks. The first was in April 94. John was dining at a restaurant in Cabramatta. Tuan Tran and Mr N were waiting on the first floor of a nearby car park. Their plan was to rush down the stairs when John left the restaurant and shoot him before he entered his car. The problem was that when John left the restaurant, he didn't leave alone. He'd been at a political function and left the place with five or six other people, one of them being Fairfield's

Mayor Nick Laylich. Tran and Mr N rushed down the stairs as they had planned, but upon seeing the others with John and especially Laylich, they backed off and aborted the killing. Mr N in particular was worried that Nick Laylich would be able to identify him. They went to the Mekong Club and Fung demanded to know why they had failed. One week later, another plan was put into place. Quang Dao would drive Mr N and Tuan Tran to John's house. While Quang Dao waited in the car, Mr N and Tran would wait in John's front yard for John to come home, then shoot him. When they arrived at John's house, Tran and Mr N jumped the small brick fence that separated the house and hid under the electricity box. They stayed there for 20 minutes before John got home.

The problem this time was that it was raining heavily and when John arrived, he left his car in a rush and ran inside to avoid getting wet. In this very short stretch of time that Tran and Mr N had to shoot John, they got cold feet and were unable to go through with him. Again, they returned to the Mekong Club and told Fung they had failed. Fung asked Tuan Tran to go to the head of security at the Mekong Club and ask him if he could help get rid of someone. The head of security asked for a photograph and said such a job would cost between $10,000-$20,000. This arrangement fell through as well. Fung then conducted interviews to find a new killer and it was at this point that the men who testified at the coronal inquest, Nguyen and Chi Ha, were contacted.

Once they saw John Newman was their target, nobody wanted the job. So Fung advanced with another attempt on John's life. He was at a large function in a club. Tuan Tran, Mr N and Quang Dao went to the function with the intention of killing him, but the place was so full of people they realized there was no way they would be able to do it without being seen. The next attempt would be the fatal one. At 7.30 pm on the 5th of September 1994, Fung had a staff meeting at the Mekong Club. After they were done talking, Fung invited his staff to dine at the club and sometime around 8 pm, Fung asked Tuan Tran to make sure that David Din, who was there working, had his break before 9 pm. Tran obliged and someone

filled in for Din. At 8.30 pm, Fung, David Din and Quang Dao left the club together. Din was wearing a green-style army jacket. Minutes later, Tuan Tran heard a mobile phone ring in the manager's office and when he went to answer it he realized it wasn't the Mekong Club phone, it was Fung's Fairfield Council mobile phone. Tran answered it and it was Fung. Fung told Tran he'd switched phones accidentally and asked if Tran could bring him the council phone. Tran obliged and walked downstairs outside the club. He was expecting to see Fung there waiting for him. He wasn't. Tran called Fung to see where he was. Fung said he had already left and told Tran to bring the council phone to his house, so Tran drove to Fung's house. When he arrived he saw Fung standing by

his white Camry and saw Quang Dao's green forward was there as well. He handed the council phone to Fung and Fung asked him if he'd like to play cards after he was done with work. Tuan Tran agreed. They arranged for Tran to drive his car back home and for Quang Dao to pick him up there and drop him back to the Mekong Club, so Tran drove his car home and Quang Dao followed. He picked him up and Tran saw that David Dinh was in the car as well. Instead of going back to the Mekong Club though, they drove to John's house. They stopped down the road and Dao turned the engine off. Tuan Tran then alleges that David Dinh opened a bag he had between his feet. He took out a set of gloves and put them on. Then he pulled out the Beretta 32-caliber pistol. Then they waited.

Ten minutes later a mobile phone rang and Dinh answered it. After talking briefly he handed the phone to Tuan Tran. It was Fung who simply said, don't fall asleep. At 9.29pm John arrived home and parked his car in the driveway. Dinh exited the car. Dao started the engine and drove closer to the house for a quick getaway. After Dinh shot John he ran back into the car and Dao sped off. Fung was there with them watching from his white Camry. As they were leaving, Fung passed them. David Dinh made a call with the club's mobile to Fung and asked him where he was. They stopped at a service station and Dinh handed Fung the bag that contained the gun, gloves and army jacket. Quang Dao then drove to Tuan Tran and David Dinh back to the Mekong Club

where they continued working as if nothing happened. Fung drove to Voyager Point where he tossed the Beretta 32-caliber pistol into the Georges River. He returned to the Mekong Club after that and stayed until closing time. He tapped Mr Ren on the shoulder and said to him, we did it. On the 11th of August 1999 David Dinh was arrested and charged with murder. Both Tuan Tran and Mr Ren were granted immunity from prosecution so it was now Fung, Quang Dao and David Dinh who were standing trial with Mr Ren and Tuan Tran the star witnesses. The second trial started in February 2000 and ran until May. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in this trial. 11 jurors said guilty, one said innocent. This law has now been

changed in New South Wales so if that decision had been reached in a trial today they would have been found guilty but at the time jury decisions had to be unanimous. So a third trial started on the 7th of March 2001. It took place in the New South Wales Supreme Court and ran for 15 weeks. At the end of the trial the jury retired to reach their verdict. Quang Dao, not guilty. David Dinh, not guilty. Fung No, guilty. Quang Dao and David Dinh were released from custody and were free men. Fung No was found guilty of planning and organising John's murder yet the decision to acquit Quang Dao and David Dinh meant there was no shooter and no getaway driver. Outside the courtroom John's mother

said she was happy they caught the big fish and that now John can rest in peace. On the 14th of November 2001 Fung was brought back to the New South Wales Supreme Court for sentencing. The judge said quote consistent with his plea of not guilty there has been no expression of remorse or regret. Fung No for the murder of John Newman was sentenced to imprisonment for life. Fung and his supporters immediately launched an appeal. His appeal was dismissed on the 3rd of April 2003 so Fung made a second appeal to the High Court of Australia. This appeal was also dismissed. In 2008 the ABC's Four Corners program aired a new episode on the John Newman case where they questioned Fung's guilt. They made a big point of the reliability of the evidence of

Tuentrian and Mr. N and suggested they may have fabricated their stories for their own benefit. Quang Dao and David Dinh actually appeared on camera and said the entire story was in fact fabricated. Quang Dao cried and said quote I know absolutely for sure that Fung is not involved in that murder. He also alleged that Tuentrian had sent him a letter after the confession saying he was terribly sorry for telling the story he did but he had to do it because his mother had threatened to kill herself after seeing him in jail. David Dinh said everything had been taken on the word of Mr. N and Tuentrian and there was no actual evidence against him. Both continued to strongly deny any involvement in the murder of John Newman. Also on that episode the corrosion expert who

testified at the trial questioned the amount of corrosion on the murder weapon and also said the fact that the weapon was found in only 20 minutes seemed unbelievable. On the 6th of June 2008 it was announced a special inquiry would take place examining Fung's conviction. It was called the pattern inquiry. The first thing they looked at was the murder weapon. There were doubts it was actually the murder weapon and the fact it was found so fast was a point often raised by people as being suspicious. The truth was divers had actually searched the river the day before they found the weapon so yes they found it in 20 minutes but it was the second day of searching. Further ballistics tests also showed that yes indeed it was the murder weapon. They also looked

at the mobile phone tower records the confessions of Tuentrian and Mr. N and a number of other points including an alleged confession made by somebody who disliked John. This alleged confession was recorded in secret by Marion Lay but after looking at it it was found not to be a confession at all. The inquiry also looked at the fact Fung never gave evidence in his third trial. He also never gave an accurate account of his whereabouts on September 3rd 1994 the night he was seen near John's house by Mr. and Mrs. L. He did give a story that he was at the cinema however phone records proved otherwise. Fung had been caught out in more than one lie and was considered to be unreliable. All up the patent inquiry cost $770,000 and at the end of it they determined that the

conviction of Fung was the correct decision. Fung was first sent to Longbei jail to serve his time however during the Chinese New Year he organised an exclusive restaurant to cater a party at the prison where he invited Fairfield's counselors and other colleagues. When the media got hold of this story the public was outraged. As a result Fung was transferred to Lithgow jail but in June 2003 correctional officers found evidence that Fung had been the mastermind of a prison gang called W2K which stood for willing to kill. They also received credible information the gang was planning an escape. They now marked Fung as extremely dangerous and a third transfer was arranged this time to Golben maximum security prison supermax where the worst of the worst are held.

The state's most notorious prisoners it is the most secure prison in New South Wales. In 2013 Fung launched another appeal against his conviction it didn't get very far since he had already been given his last appeal 10 years earlier. Today Fung remains in strict isolation at Golben supermax and his papers are still marked never to be released. John Newman's biggest aspiration while representing the state seat of Cabramatta was getting rid of the gangs that dominated the area. A major police operation was launched in the year 2000 targeting the gangs. Many members were put behind bars and gang activity was heavily disrupted. Ever since then things have greatly improved. Cabramatta today is the thriving multicultural

hub John expected and hoped for it to be.