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Huai De Ooi tortured and bashed fruit picker Umit Bolat to death

Caroline SchelleNCA NewsWire
Not Supplied
Camera IconNot Supplied Credit: Supplied

A fruit picker was brutally beaten and tortured for hours before he was killed in a “repulsive” crime over a silver BMW.

Huai “Arthur” De Ooi was sentenced to 11 years and six months behind bars in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Friday.

The 32-year-old pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the violent and sustained attack against fruit picker Umit Bolat.

“The level of sustained violence during this incident is repulsive and would shock the public consciousness,” Justice Lex Lasry said in his sentencing remarks.

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The victim was a 45-year-old father of five who lived in the area and knew his killer.

There had been an escalating dispute between the pair over an unregistered silver BMW which Mr Bolat promised to transfer to Ooi, the court was told.

Umit Bolat disappeared from Shepparton in August 2018 and his body was later pulled from the Murray River.
Camera IconUmit Bolat disappeared from Shepparton in August 2018 and his body was later pulled from the Murray River. Credit: Supplied

In August 2018, the victim was watching TV at a house at Lemnos, near Shepparton, when Ooi attacked him along with others.

Prosecutors argued the car transfer was payment for a drug but Ooi claimed it had nothing to do with drugs.

Instead, the fatal fight erupted because Ooi wanted to kick Bolat out of the property and acted in a “direct and aggressive” fashion because he thought the victim would get violent, the court heard.

After Ooi pounced, others at the property joined in the attack and dragged the victim into the kitchen, where he was beaten with a wooden pole until it snapped.

The killer went on to stab him in the knee with a pocket knife and bashed him with a metal pole.

Umit Bolat with his family. Supplied
Camera IconUmit Bolat with his family. Supplied Credit: Supplied

Mr Bolat was calling for help throughout the entire ordeal and begged for more time to transfer the ownership of the prized BMW.

“No more opportunities,” Ooi told him.

The assault continued and Mr Bolat was moved to an air mattress in the loungeroom to stop blood from getting on the floor.

Ooi and another man then threw gym weights onto the victim twice and wrapped his head in plastic bags in a final act of degradation, Justice Lasry said.

A pathologist was unable to tell if Mr Bolat was alive at the time the bag was tied around his head.

The killer and others tied up the victim, wrapped his body in a blanket and dumped his body in the Murray River, near Cobram East.

His bright yellow ute was driven to the carpark of a Woolworths supermarket and abandoned. Shortly after, he was reported missing.

Mr Bolat’s bright yellow ute was found abandoned at a supermarket carpark after he was killed. Photo: Supplied
Camera IconMr Bolat’s bright yellow ute was found abandoned at a supermarket carpark after he was killed. Photo: Supplied Credit: Supplied

“The violence continued over a protracted period until his almost inevitable death,” Justice Lasry said.

“Mr Bolat was trussed up and dumped in the river.”

The judge said the killer had no misgivings or hesitation about what was occurring and had plenty of time to reflect on what was happening during the sustained assault.

The level violence carried out against the victim was so far out of proportion to be utterly inexplicable, Justice Lasry said.

He said the actions “add to my despair” about the excessive violence people can perpetrate on one another.

Ooi must serve at least eight years and six months before he is eligible for parole and will be deported back to Malaysia on his release.

Originally published as Huai De Ooi tortured and bashed fruit picker Umit Bolat to death

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