Teenagers convicted of killing prostitutes

Two teenage farm hands were convicted today of murdering two Thai-born prostitutes by throwing them bound and weighted into a crocodile-infested river in northern Australia.

The bodies of Phuangsri Kroksamrang, 58, and Somjai Insamnan, 27, were found floating in the Adelaide River, south of Darwin, in March last year by the crew of a crocodile-spotting tourist boat a few days after their deaths.

The women drowned and were apparently untouched by crocodiles.

A Northern Territory Supreme Court jury took 12 hours to find Ben William McLean and Phu Ngoc Trinh, both 19-year-old farm labourers, guilty of the double murder.

Judge Dean Mildren sentenced both to mandatory life imprisonment. The pair will appear in court on May 16 when the judge will decide how long they must serve before they can be considered for parole.

State law says they must serve at least 25 years for double murder.

Prosecutors said the pair hired the women for sex shortly before throwing them from a bridge, but were unable to provide the jury with a motive for what the judge described as “horrific” murders.