Teens sentenced to 25yrs over croc river drowning

DARWIN - Two teenagers who threw two bound sex workers into a crocodile-infested river will each spend 25 years behind bars after a judge decided they were both culpable for the "horrific murders".

In the Northern Territory Supreme Court, Justice Dean Mildren said Ben William McLean and Phu Ngoc Trinh, just 18 when they killed the women, were arrogant and believed they would never get caught.

"On the evidence before me, these were cold-blooded murders committed by these young men for reasons unknown," said Justice Mildren.

Phuangsri Kroksamrang, 58, and Somjai Insamnan, 27, were bound with cable ties, weighed down with car batteries, and thrown alive into the Adelaide River near Darwin in March last year.

Their floating bodies were discovered by crocodile spotting tour guides a few days later.

Trinh and McLean fled to Brisbane, where they were found hiding in a cupboard during a midnight raid on a suburban home, and arrested.

They initially confessed to police, but later repudiated the statements during a sensational five-week murder trial, with Trinh claiming a Vietnamese gang had killed the women in front of him.

The jury rejected the alternate story, and found both men guilty of double murder in March.

Justice Mildren today said Trinh was the primary offender, and had planned the murders, buying the rope, cable ties and tape before picking up the women and taking them back to his parent's rural Darwin home for sex.

"There is no evidence McLean was aware of what Trinh was up to - it's possible he was surprised when Trinh turned up with the women," he said.

Justice Mildren said both teens later bound the women with cable ties, and Trinh strangled the struggling women with the rope in the back of his father's van, while McLean drove the group to the Adelaide River.

Both men threw the unconscious women off the bridge, apparently unaware they were still alive.

Trinh later withdrew A$1800 ($1947) from the older woman's bank account.

"It's likely that neither of the accused expected the bodies would be found," Justice Mildren said.

"They brazenly went about their own business immediately after the murders.

"Some kind of effort was made to collect up some of the belongings of the victims and burn them in a fire.

"(But) no systematic careful attempt was made to hide damaging evidence and destroy it, probably because the prisoners were arrogant and did not really believe they were likely to be suspected and possibly also because of sheer laziness."

Justice Mildren described Trinh as "cold and calculating", and said McLean had played a lesser role as aider and abettor out of a sense of "misguided loyalty" and immaturity.

However, he accepted submissions the men should not be given different sentences, handing each the minimum non-parole period of 25 years, backdated to March last year.

"There's no doubt that these were horrific murders," Justice Mildren said.

"Although both of the prisoners have expressed some belated sorrow for their victims, there's no evidence of any real contrition.

"Both defendants have maintained their innocence and appealed their convictions.

- AAP