A dad-of-two who spent a year on the run after killing a man and dumping his body at the side of the road has been found guilty of murder.about:blank
Alex Dion, 40, murdered Wachira ‘Mario’ Phetmang, wrapped his corpse in a plastic mattress protector and dumped it at Sydney Olympic Park in 2018 before fleeing the country to the US, where he evaded capture for a year, a court in Australia heard.
He was finally caught in California and extradited back to Australia before being charged with the 33-year-old drug dealer’s murder.
Crown prosecutor Michael Barr told the court the killing was drugs-related as Mr Phetmang sold crystal meth to Dion.
CCTV footage showed pair together at South Hurstville service station in Sydney in May 2018. It was the last time Mr Phetmang was seen alive.
Dion denied the charge, but he failed to convince the jury, which took three days to find him guilty, after his four-week trial at the NSW Supreme Court earlier today.
After dumping the body, the killer tried to dispose of Mr Phetmang’s glasses, hat and hoodie in a water tank at a building site where he worked as a tiler.
Dion then got a taxi to Sydney Airport before escaping to the US two days after the murder. He also used his victim’s credit card at a US casino, but failed to get cash from three ATM machines, the court heard.
Mr Phetmang’s family attended most of the trial.
During the hearing, Dion accused a former friend and housemate of the murder but admitted trying to hide the victim’s possessions in the tank.
Dion will be sentenced at a later date.