The Samurai Sword Murders

The Samurai Sword Murders followed a vicious brawl that began on the dance floor of the Salt Nightclub in South Yarra on July 8, 2002.

The murders were a result of a vicious brawl that began on the dance floor of the Salt Nightclub in South Yarra on July 8, 2002. A Supreme Court jury was told the murders happened after one of the victims’ brother, hit one of the murders with a bottle inside the nightclub as revenge for a brawl at Crown Casino's Odeon nightclub several days earlier.

James Huynh was hacked to death by a mob with swords outside the club, while his cousins Viet Huynh and Nam Huynh drowned after they jumped into the nearby Yarra River to escape.

During the seven-month trial, one of the longest in Victorian history, jurors heard James Huynh, 19, was chased from the nightclub down Chapel St in South Yarra before being hacked to death with samurai swords and knives close to the Yarra River on July 8, 2002.

He received multiple stab wounds and his hand was almost severed in the attack.

His two cousins Nam, 21, and Viet Huynh, 25, drowned after jumping into the river to escape their attackers, fearing they would be chopped up.

Handing down his sentence, Justice Robert Redlich described Viet Huynh and Nam Huynh jumping into the Yarra as an act of desperation.

He described the murder of James Huynh as a savage, frenzied and ferocious act.

Cuong Quoc Lam , 26, of Sunshine; Hung Tu Van, 29 of Footscray; Linh Van Nguyen, 26 of Altona Meadows; Thanh Nha Nguyen, 25 of St Albans; Long Thanh Tran, 23 of Footscray; Hong Bui, 23 of St Albans; and Hoang Quang Tran, 23 of Sunshine were found guilty of murdering James Huynh.

Lam and Van were also found guilty of the murders of Nam and Viet Hyunh.