A man has been charged with the murder of his cellmate inside a jail in NSW.
Lucas Batey, 20, was charged with murder after Kien Vinh Vuong, 48, was found unresponsive in his cell at Parklea Correctional Centre on Sunday.
Vuong was treated by paramedics at the jail in Sydney’s north west after being discovered by prison officers but was declared dead at the scene.
Batey had only been in jail for five days and was not known to the NSW justice system prior to March this year, the Daily Telegraph reports.
He was thrown behind bars on Wednesday after breaching his bail conditions for three offences, including assaulting a police officer.
NSW Police have laid murder charges against a prison inmate after a man died in a Sydney jail
Batey was moved into the same cell as Vuong on Saturday afternoon, according to a police fact sheet tendered to Parramatta Local Court.
Corrective services officers attended the cell just before 9am on Sunday, where they observed Vuong lying on his back with his head towards the door.
Batey allegedly told them his cellmate was ‘sleeping’ but upon closer inspection the officers noticed the man’s face was swollen and bruised.
Medical staff performed CPR but Voung was declared dead at the scene.
Police said Batey was larger in stature than his cellmate who ‘would not have been able to physically defend himself against the accused’.
‘The savage beating inflicted upon Kien Vinh Vuong by the accused (allegedly) directly resulted in his death,’ they allege in police fact sheets.
‘The accused showed no remorse for his actions.’
Batey was taken to Riverstone police station where he was charged with murder.
The 20-year-old is understood to be originally from Victoria and had only moved to Sydney three weeks ago.
He is scheduled to next appear in court on May 17.
