Guilty plea to acid murder

By Natasha Wallace
March 24, 2005

"They threw acid on me" was all Dominic Li could say before he suffered an agonising death from an horrific attack on his front porch.

The innocent 45-year-old accountant had hydrochloric acid poured down his throat at gunpoint in a contract killing carried out by two men at his Concord home on December 13, 2002.

When he answered the door of his Churchill Crescent house about 7.30am, two men pretending to be couriers pistol-whipped him to the ground and forced him to drink the acid in front of his wife.

The acid burnt holes in his oesophagus and blinded him, and he died in hospital three weeks later.

Mr Li was targeted after his wife's brother, Phillip Ma, allegedly gambled away $500,000 which belonged to a drug syndicate, and then went into hiding.

It followed a bizarre poster campaign in which pictures of Mr Ma were posted around Ashfield, saying: "Wanted, Dead or Alive, Phillip Ma".

Yesterday, Dax Satorre pleaded guilty in the NSW Supreme Court to murder, after confessing to driving the two alleged attackers, Richard Burton Nimmo and Maua Sua, both 24, to the house.

Satorre, 38, was aware that the intention was to "permanently disfigure" Mr Li, but had been reassured that he would not be killed, the court heard.

He had been promised $1000 to drive them there and was motivated by his addiction to the methylamphetamine "shabu" and the promise of a continued supply, the court heard.

He had been told by an alleged go-between, Harold Evangelista Amurao, 35 that "they just gonna scare the guy and pour some liquid, like acid on the face because apparently the Harold's boss want that guy to suffer".

He was referring to the alleged masterminds of the attack, Emil Chang, 41, and Yonky Irvin Tan, who had allegedly been importing, duplicating and selling ecstasy in the Maroubra area in early 2002.

Police allege Tan promised Amurao $10,000 if acid was used. Chang committed suicide in a Bangkok jail before he was extradited.

Tan had allegedly told Mr Li, his accountant, some students had given him a large amount of cash to invest. Mr Li allegedly put him in touch with Ma, who ran an investment company.

Asked yesterday by his defence barrister, Mitchell Paish, how he felt about Mr Li's family, Satorre replied: "I feel sorry for the wife ... because I know I caused him so much grief, pain and suffering."

Justice Timothy Studdert said it was a "dreadful crime" and will sentence Satorre on a date to be fixed.


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