Mother of murdered Sydney woman Miming Listiyani is calling for justice

[logitech]

A DEVASTATED mother coming to grips with losing her daughter says she suffered a second blow when her killer was sentenced.

Miming Listiyani, 27, was violently murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Khanh Thanh Ly, 37, in April, 2016.

After killing her, he hid her body under a bush, went back to a nearby pub to get his car and loaded her into the boot. He drove to Cabarita Park, in Sydney’s inner west, where he was spotted dragging her lifeless, naked body into the shallows of the Parramatta River.

Ly tried to hide in some mangroves but was eventually restrained by police who used capsicum spray. Ly was “extremely intoxicated”, according to a judge.

The killer was sentenced to 18 years with a non-parole period of 13 years in the NSW Supreme Court in February, but Miming’s mum says that’s nowhere near enough.

“My daughter was violently killed at just 27 years old,” she wrote on a change.org petition that has been signed more than 18,000 times.

“Her murderer was her ex-partner. He could be back on the streets in just 11 years but I’ll be serving a life sentence of grief for my beautiful, kind daughter.

“The pain Miming went through is unimaginable. She suffered numerous fractures, her spine was broken in three places and her face was smashed repeatedly into the concrete pavement.”

Miming’s mother said the judge who sentenced Ly was “lenient” because the killer claimed he “didn’t remember anything and because of intoxication and post traumatic stress disorder”.

“This evil man is dangerous. He threw my beautiful daughter’s dead body in the boot of a car then disposed of it like it was garbage,” she wrote.

“Writing this breaks my heart and makes me sick.”

Acting Justice Jane Mathews said during sentencing that Ly “displayed signs of extreme intoxication, his speech was slurred and slow, and he was unable to give his name or say where he lived”.

Justice Matthews told the court she had rarely seen a case where the offender was as devastated and remorseful.

Ly avoided the death penalty in Indonesia more than a decade ago when the infamous Bali Nine were captured.

The killer has already served time in jail for his links with the Bali Nine. He worked closely with that drug syndicate and was good friends with Myuran Sukumaran, who was later executed alongside Andrew Chan.

Ly, who was codenamed “Buddha” by the group, was heavily involved in the Bali Nine ring, even accompanying members of the syndicate on an aborted drug run to Asia. He was jailed for seven years in December 2007 after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to import heroin into Australia.

After his arrest, Ly broke ranks with the other conspirators and gave evidence against them — including old school-friend Sukumaran — who he said drew him into the heroin smuggling trade.

Ly, who was once an accounting student from Lidcombe in Sydney’s west, is the son of Chinese and Vietnamese refugees.