11-07-2025
Peter Nguyen-Ha convicted of murdering innocent man Ralph Matthews Cox in his bedroom
A drug dealer who fired a shotgun through the front window of a home in suburban Perth, killing an innocent man in his own bedroom, has been convicted of murder.
Peter Nguyen-Ha, 35, has been on trial for seven weeks, accused of murdering Ralph Matthews Cox in Landsdale in January 2022.
The Supreme Court was told Nguyen-Ha was looking for revenge after being assaulted and robbed by a man named Anthony Prior.
While Prior did live at the Landsdale home, he was not there when Nguyen-Ha arrived in the early hours of the morning and fired a 12-gauge shotgun.
Instead, the pellets hit and killed Ralph Matthews Cox, who did not know Nguyen-Ha and had no involvement in the drug world.
The jury deliberated for two days before finding Nguyen-Ha guilty of one charge of murder, as well as five counts of doing an act likely to endanger life.
During his trial, Nguyen-Ha admitted firing the gun twice but claimed he replaced the shotgun shells with pellets filled with rock salt.
He told the court it was his alleged accomplice, Matthew Gempton, who fired a third, fatal shot with a different gun.
Gempton, a self-described debt collector, already received a reduced sentence for manslaughter over his role in the shooting after agreeing to be a key witness in Nguyen-Ha's trial.
He admitted being Nguyen-Ha's driver in the shooting but said it was his accomplice who fired the gun.
The intended target of the shooting, Anthony Prior, admitted in court he had bashed Nguyen-Ha and stolen tens of thousands of dollars from him in late 2021, in a set-up which involved fake drugs.
That triggered two earlier shootings at homes in Perth's northern suburbs in which Nguyen-Ha, along with Gempton, were targeting Prior.
The prosecution maintained that in those shootings Nguyen-Ha was not a "mere bystander" but was a planner, and that he was indeed the lone gunman in the final Landsdale shooting.
On that night, Mr Cox and his partner were asleep in their front bedroom and stirred when they heard someone outside.
He said "I've been hit", when he was shot, the court heard.
Nguyen-Ha will face a sentencing hearing on August 22.
