Elements of the crime
Dominic Li was attacked by two men in his home in December 2002. Dominic Li was an accountant whose brother-in-law, Phillip Ma, owed money to Yonky Irvan Tan. Tan, who was a distributor or drugs developed the attack on Li in order to flush out Li’s brother who had disappeared. Hydrochloric acid was poured on his face and mouth which left him blind, with a burnt oesophagus that blocked his breathing. He died three weeks later.
Elements of the case include the planning of the event by Tan. In doing this he possessed a ‘guilty mind’ which is known as the men’s rea. The actual physical carrying out of the crime ‘the actus reus’ falls onto the two men who attacked Li with the acid, which lead to his death three weeks later.
Factors leading to criminal behaviour
Factors that lead to the crime being committed were to do with economics. It was an extortion attempt and a contract killing by Tan who was after the return of his money, this formed the motive to do it. Tan planned to use the murder of Li as a means of discovering his brother-in-law’s whereabouts and to alert Ma that Tan was seeking him out.
Reporting and investigation of the crime
The attack was reported to police by Dominic Li’s wife who was forced to watch as her husband had hydrochloric acid poured down his throat. The men disappeared before ambulance services arrived. IT intercept, surveillance footage, DNA found at the scene and local court intelligence quickly uncovered identities and five arrest warrants were issued. In June 2003 the fifth and final arrest was made.
The Role of the Courts
The Central Local Court helped with the arrest and conviction of some of the members of the team that assisted in killing Li. However the overall case was in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in Australia and has both original and appellate jurisdiction. Justice Price described the crime as one of the worst he had ever seen due to its barbaric nature. In the Dominic Li case there was the use of a judge, magistrates, a jury and the accused were given defence barrister’s. Barrister’s are lawyers who provide specialist services in Courts and Tribunals.
The Plea
Three of the men charged with Li’s murder pleaded not guilty of murder to begin with. However with further investigation all five men aged between 24 to 39 were charged with murder and conspiring to conflict grievous bodily harm. Two of them were charged with actually conflicting grievous bodily harm while the other three men face charges of being an accessory to the crime. Satorre, who was the driver of the vehicle belonging to the attacker’s did plead guilty to the crime and supplied evidence against the other men convict.
In return for acting as driver, Satorre was promised $1,000 and a continuing supply of methamphetamine, to which he was addicted, the court was told.
