Australia: Indian origin student gets lifer for murders

An Indian-origin student from Singapore was sentenced to life imprisonment in Australia on Monday for murdering his two roommates by hitting them to death with a baseball bat.

The victims were also from Singapore and all three were studying engineering at the University of New South Wales (NSW).

Ram Puneet Tiwary, 27, beat Chow Lyang Tay and Poh Chuan Tan in the head several times and stabbed them in the neck to make sure they were dead, at their home in Kingsford in Sydney on September 15, 2003, the ABC online said.

Tiwary owed a roommate $3,850 in rent, but the NSW Supreme Court judge said nothing in the evidence had established a motive for the killing.

"I am skeptical that a dispute over the payment of rent could have been sufficient to trigger the extremely violent attacks undertaken by the offender," Judge Michael Adams said.

He said Tiwary killed Tan when he arrived home to prepare lunch, at least two hours after murdering Tay. Tiwary had bought a baseball bat two days before the men were killed.

The judge described the crimes as 'heinous and terrible acts' and said the victims had received 'horrendous injuries.' Tiwary, who denied any involvement in the murders, called police in a distressed state after the killings, telling them he was in another room when the attacks occurred. He did not give evidence in court.