A man who was stabbed and left to die in his mother’s arms is going to spend decades in prison, and that robbery is his fault.
After a jury found Viliami Taufahema guilty of the 2019 botched home invasion murder of 29-year-old Luke Lembryk in Sydney’s west, the sentence was handed down in Friday’s NSW Supreme Court.
Along with two other armed robbery suspects, Bilal Rahim and Lisa Anne Price, Joseph Nehme is currently doing time for his conviction on multiple counts, including murder and assault with the intent to rob.
Price and Lembryk had gone on a Tinder date four months prior to the event, during which the woman discovered bundles of cash and drugs on his property.
After Price informed Nehme about the drugs, money, and house location, he enlisted Rahim to take Taufahema there and assist with the heist.
Lembryck passed away while being held by his mother after being stabbed five times for refusing to give over the money.
Cancer ultimately took her life.
The identity of the home invader who fatally stabbed the victim remained a mystery to Justice Sarah McNaughton. Still, she said that Taufahema was legally responsible for the murder since he broke into the house in the middle of the night knowing full well that he could cause serious injury.
The last words said by Lembryk to a police officer were, according to Justice McNaughton, “I’m dying, they stabbed me.”
Taufahema received a 23-year prison term plus a 16-year and 6-month non-parole period.
The jury sentenced Price to eight years in jail without the possibility of parole after finding him guilty of homicide, assault with the intent to rob, and aggravated breaking and entering.
During the house invasion, Lembryk assaulted his mother, which is connected to one of the aggravated breaking and entering allegations.
Four months before to the attack, on the Tinder date, Price discovered $10,000 to $20,000 worth of cash and a “golf ball-worth” of cocaine in Lembryk’s residence.
Justice McNaughton stated that she was in a state of extreme financial distress and was on the verge of eviction when she divulged the information to Nehme.
Rahim, who escorted Taufahema to work and kept an eye on things the whole time, received an eight-year, six-month prison term plus a five-year, two-month non-parole period.
Aggravated breaking and entering, manslaughter, and assault with the intent to rob were all found guilty of him.
As a result of his heroin addiction, Rahim exhibited a “unconditional and immediate” eagerness to participate when Nehme approached him, according to Justice McNaughton.
After entering the residence, she discovered that Rahim had anticipated potential resistance and was aware that Nehme was armed with a knife.
At a prior hearing, Lembryk’s father had stated that no punishment could ever make up for his son’s death.
The fact that his dying wife spent her last days grieving the 29-year-old was especially tragic, he added.
On Monday, the sentence arguments for Nehme will be considered.
