GUILTY Australia - Dominic Li, 45, dies in acid attack, Concorde, NSW, 13 Dec 2002

Five men have been charged with the murder of a man who was forced to drink acid at gunpoint in Australia.

Accountant Dominic Li was targeted by hit men hunting his brother-in-law over missing drug money, a court has heard.



The 45-year-old died on January 2 last year after suffering almost three weeks of agony.

He was forced to drink the acid in front of his wife and 14-year-old son at their home in the Sydney suburb of Concord.

The hydrochloric acid burned Li's oesophagus and led to the collapse of his respiratory system, as well as blinding him in both eyes.

The organised hit was allegedly part of an attempt to find a relative of Li, who had gone to ground after more than £190,000 in drug money went missing.

Five men aged from 24 to 39 faced Sydney's Central Local Court charged with the murder of Li, who was an innocent victim of the bungled plot.

A sixth man had been charged but killed himself in a Thai prison before he could be extradited to Australia to face charges. Police said the motives for the attack was a bungled attempt to launder drug money in early 2002.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13171487,00.html

From April 2005:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-04-22/acid-killers-driver-jailed-for-16-years/1556368

Dax Satorre, 38, pleaded guilty to murder, admitting that he drove the two attackers to and from Mr Li's house...

Justice Studdert accepted that Satorre was sorry and had offered to give evidence against his alleged co-offenders. He sentenced Satorre to a maximum of 16 years in jail and set a non-parole period of 12 years.

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From December 2006:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...y-in-acid-murder/story-e6frg6nf-1111112620379

Tan was convicted yesterday of planning the attack on Li. But the two men accused of physically carrying out the attack, Richard Burton Nimmo and Maua Sua, were acquitted...

The court heard that Li was targeted because his brother-in-law Phillip Ma had gambled away more than $500,000 of drug money belonging to Tan and his associate, Emil Chang.

Tan and Chang organised the attack on Li to flush Ma out of hiding. But Chang died in a Thai prison after he plunged headlong into a pole and broke his neck, as police sought to extradite him.

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From June 2007:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/acid-murderer-gets-life/2007/06/29/1182624125835.html

A man has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in jail for the killing of a Sydney accountant who died in agony after hydrochloric acid was poured over his face.

In the NSW Supreme Court today, Justice Derek Price imposed a life sentence on Yonky Irvin Tan, 42, of the NSW central coast.

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