Biography
Van Tuong Nguyen and his twin brother, Dang Khoa Nguyen, were born in a refugee camp at Songkhla in Thailand to Vietnamese parents. He did not know his father until 2001 when he travelled from the United States to Australia. His mother, Kim, is Vietnamese and migrated to Australia shortly after the boys' birth. She married a Vietnamese Australian in 1987, who beat them often, according to Nguyen. His education was at St Joseph's Primary School in Springvale and Mount Waverley Secondary College.
After leaving school at 18, he intended to study at Deakin University, but financial difficulties led him to work as a store clerk, door-to-door salesman, computer salesman and research marketer. He started his own computer sales business in 1999. After his brother Khoa got into legal trouble, Van wound up the business. He then found a sales, research and marketing job and earned between A$1500 to A$2500 a month (depending on how much commission he received). He subsequently took long leave between June and December 2002. In his confession, he stated he was on "medication for acne that required 4 months leave".
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