Man gets two years jail after incident in which woman was shot

A 24-year-old man has received a two-year jail term over his involvement in an incident in which a young woman was shot in the upper body.

Ken Vo was not charged with shooting the woman – another 24-year-old man who was allegedly with him was – but he was at the scene brandishing a gun, and pleaded guilty in the WA District Court to being armed in a way that may cause fear, along with various drug charges.

The 24-year-old woman from Yangebup in Perth’s south was lucky not to be killed or seriously injured when she was hit with a gunshot to her upper body at 2.45pm on October 18 last year.

The woman was in a car with her boyfriend – who was believed to be the actual target of the shooter over a debt – when she was apparently caught in the crossfire while driving away from a house in Bayswater.

The pair then drove to the local police station, where officers called an ambulance for the victim, who was bleeding and taken to hospital but did not have life-threatening injuries.

Police raided the house that night, seizing drugs and paraphernalia, and arrested and charged Vo.

A fortnight later they extradited Brendan Nguyen, of Marangaroo, from Queensland after he allegedly fled there and charged him with shooting the woman.

Chief Judge Kevin Sleight told Vo he had to impose a term of imprisonment because of his extensive and violent criminal history in his short life.

That had included seemingly living on the proceeds of crime to satisfy his drug addiction since he has not worked since dropping out of school in year 10.

He received a 24-month jail term, but could be released almost immediately given he is eligible for parole after one year and has been in prison on remand since December last year.

Nguyen, who has pleaded guilty to an unlawful act with intent to harm and endangering life, is due to be sentenced on January 30.