Indian to face charges of killing fellow countrymen in Australia

PERTH - An Indian student, accused of killing two of his fellow countrymen in Australia following a fight over money, will be presented before a court here Saturday.

The 22-year-old man has been charged with two counts of murder and will face the East Perth Magistrate’s Court in the morning, a police spokesman said.

The accused was questioned by police after the two students - aged 19 and 20 - were killed Friday. Both men were allegedly murdered following an argument over money matters and living arrangements in a rented unit at Morley in Perth’s east, Australian news agency AAP reported.

Detective Inspector David Bryson said that early investigations pointed towards a dispute over money as the trigger for the incident.

“Essentially that’s it - there’s been a dispute about money and things have obviously escalated,” he told reporters Friday. “It’s obviously taken a life of its own from there.”

The detective said a badly injured 20-year-old man made his way to a St John Ambulance depot at Morley at about 4 a.m. Friday. He told ambulance officers that another man lay injured in a nearby street.

The man who reported to ambulance officers was taken to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The body of a 19-year-old man was found outside a unit in Crimea Street, Morley, where both men were believed to have lived with “a bunch of friends”, Bryson said.

Both the deceased held current overseas student visas, while the accused has been living in the country on an international student visa.

Identities of the victims would not be revealed until their relatives in India were informed, police said.