Death
On 3 September 1985, Yvonne Barrett was found murdered at her unit in the inner western Sydney suburb of Birchgrove. During police investigations and evidence submitted at Barrett's murder trial in the New South Wales Supreme Court, it was determined that Yvonne Barrett had been strangled by her estranged husband, Hoang Van Truong. Truong had recently returned from New Zealand and had spent the night with Barrett. He was asked to leave the following morning. He failed to comply with her request and proceeded to assault Barrett over the head with a bottle before strangling her with his belt. He then proceeded to take a number of Serapax tablets and cut his wrists. Truong, a Vietnam War veteran, was found guilty of murder in 1986. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without a non-parole period by Justice Finlay of the New South Wales Supreme Court. In handing down his sentence on 5 August 1986 Justice Findlay rejected a submission by the Senior Public Defendant Mr Bill Hosking QC, that Truong was "suffering from a disease of the mind that impaired his responsibility for the crime". Mr Hosking had claimed that Truong's war service, tragic life and "ingestion of marijuana at the time of this offence had occurred" had diminished his responsibilities. Truong had met Barrett at a nightclub in Perth and subsequently married in December 1983. The couple separated in 1984.
Yvonne Barrett's funeral service was held at Christ The King, Catholic Church in Churchill Avenue, Braybrook, Victoria. It was well attended including Australian show business celebrities Bert & Pattie Newton (who was a close friend of Yvonne's) Pattie Newton posted a condolence notice in the Melbourne Age newspaper stating that "What wonderful times to remember of growing up together".
Yvonne Barrett was buried at the Altona Memorial Park, Victoria.
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