2 SLAYINGS, GROW OP TIED

Witness Thought Thugs Would Only Beat Her Boss

A trembling, weeping, witness in a murder trial linked to a marijuana
grow operation told a jury yesterday how she was caught in the middle
between two men hell-bent on a pay-back scheme against each other.
Clutching her arms tightly around her body, Minh Thuy Dang, 28, now
serving prison time for conspiracy to murder and manslaughter, stood
in the witness stand in a Barrie court and testified she thought hired
thugs only meant to "beat up" her boss and part-time lover.

The man, Dung That Ton, and his wife, Bong Thi Bui, both 44-year-old
immigrants from Vietnam, were found shot and beaten to death in a
field north of Barrie May 25, 2002.

With eyes darting around, she raised a shaky hand and pointed across
the courtroom to the five people now on trial for the murders and
slowly began her convoluted story of how each person was allegedly
involved.

FIVE PLEAD NOT GUILTY

The five people, Tung Duong, 38, of Mississauga, Ibrahim Yumnu, 48, of
Wasaga Beach, Vinicio Cardoso, 39, of Toronto, Bruce Glen, 38, of
Caledon and Genevieve Ward, 45, of Wasaga Beach, have pleaded not
guilty to the killings.

Dang testified that she worked as a call girl for the murdered Ton,
and also slept with him, but also slept with Tung Duong for a fee of
$500 a time, which she split with Ton. Later on, she said, she slept
with Duong for no charge because he often split his Casino Rama
gambling profits with her.

She said the two men were feuding with each other over the profits
from a marijuana grow house operation that operated on Stillriver Cr.
in Mississauga.

"Duong asked to borrow $10,000 from me to pay to Yumnu to take care of
Mr. Ton and his wife," she said, speaking through a Vietnamese
interpreter. "It meant beat him up or something like that."

The trial continues today.