Evidence to charge over karaoke shooting of Ivan Au
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http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23759585-5001021,00.html

A YOUNG man was shot dead after he and his friends were accused of damaging a car parked outside a Sydney karaoke bar and there is sufficient evidence to prosecute persons of interest, an inquest has been told.

No one has been charged over the murder of Ivan Au, 19, of Marrickville, who died after being shot three times - in the neck, hip and chest - early on April 13, 2002.

'(He was) killed by a low velocity slug and the wound that killed the deceased was the one in the chest that had pierced both his lungs and the aorta,' counsel assisting the inquest Ron Hoenig said in his opening submissions today.

'About 12.41am on Saturday, April 13, 2002, Mr Au (was) callously, cowardly and brutally shot to death.'

Mr Au and a group of friends had been out for one of their regular visits to a city karaoke club. On this particular Friday it was the Ding Dang Dong Karaoke Bar in Randle Street at Surry Hills.

On leaving the venue Mr Au and his friends went to look at a Honda Integra parked nearby, Mr Hoenig said.

'They had had a bit to drink and for whatever reason ... they started to kick the side of the car,' he told deputy state coroner Carl Milovanovich.

The attack set off the car's alarm and a group of people linked to the car's owner soon arrived.

'(The second group) remonstrated with the deceased and his friends for causing what they said was damage to the car,' Mr Hoenig said.

After a short time a further five or more men arrived outside the club, and a altercation started.

'During that altercation various shots were fired,' he said.

'Some (people) thought they were firecrackers and it caused a number of people to run, some to hide and caused whoever the shooter was to disappear.

'On a Friday or Saturday night (near) Elizabeth Street anyone could have been killed with some lunatic producing a gun and shooting it in anyone's particular direction.'

When police arrived at the scene they noticed three men of Asian appearance watching them with interest from inside the nearby Madison Hotel.

Two of those three men - the owner of the Honda, Van Dung (Johnson) Bui, and his friend Thanh Si (Jimmy) To - are named as persons of interest in Mr Au's shooting.

Gunshot residue consistent with that from the .25 calibre Beretta pistol used to shoot Mr Au, was found on the shoes of Johnson Boi.

CCTV footage shows Boi and To leaving the Madison hotel some 17 minutes before the shooting. However, the men claim they had to stay inside the hotel because the crime scene meant they could not move the car.

'That assertion suggested by Johnson Boi, that he in fact effectively left the hotel after the crime scene had been established, that's a lie and would seem to be a deliberate lie on the basis of the evidence,' Mr Hoenig said.

'It would be suggested on the evidence that that lie ... amounts to a consciousness of guilt.'

Mr Hoenig said there was enough evidence for the matter to be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The inquest is continuing.

Submitted by David on 26-05-2008

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