Families seek closure as grisly details emerge in Brisbane concrete burial case

Family members of a man discovered buried in concrete have gasped in court at the “horrific and heinous” details of an attempt to dissolve his body in chemicals.

Two defendants faced separate sentencing hearings at Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday over the deaths of two men at a warehouse.

Family members of the second victim, who has never been found, broke down after pleading for information on the location of his body after both convicted men were jailed for manslaughter.

David Lee Tan, 42, and Billy Lee Bornstein, 30, previously pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Lachlan James Griffiths, 35, in the early hours of January 17, 2022, at Tan’s transport business at Coopers Plains in Brisbane’s south.

Tan also pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to the murder of Andrew Christopher Walsh, 35, on November 8, 2021.

Walsh’s remains were found in March 2022 encased in concrete at the Coopers Plains transport business during a police search for Griffiths’ body, which has not been located.

Justice Frances Williams said Tan had provided significant assistance in a cover-up after Walsh was bashed and stabbed to death by two men who accused him of sexually assaulting a female associate.

“What was done to Mr Walsh’s body was horrific and heinous,” she said.

Williams said Tan helped place Walsh’s body at the bottom of an oil drainage pit and weighed him down with a wooden pallet.

“Cleaning products and chemicals were used to try to melt the deceased’s body,” Williams said, causing Walsh’s family members to gasp.

Tan later purchased concrete to pour into the pit and covered it with a layer of oil and perfume in an attempt to disguise the smell.

In separate sentences, Williams said Tan and Bornstein did not inflict violence on Griffiths but had taken part in a plan to lure him from a Brisbane CBD hotel to the Coopers Plains business with the promise of payment for a drug deal.

Williams said they both engaged in a common unlawful purpose to procure Griffiths so another man, Filip Grbavac, could inflict serious physical harm to him during an “interrogation” that turned fatal in the warehouse’s meeting room.

Grbavac suspected a person close to him had suffered serious offences at the hands of Griffiths.

“The violence must have been prolonged and extreme. You knew Mr Griffiths was being assaulted and in pain. You were aware of this and did nothing,” Williams told Tan and Bornstein.

Tan was sentenced to a total of 15-and-a-half-years’ imprisonment for the manslaughter of Griffiths and being an accessory after the fact to Walsh’s murder.

He will be eligible for parole in September 2031 having already served 971 days in custody.

Bornstein was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment.

He will be eligible to apply for parole in November 2028 with 721 days declared as time already served.

Griffiths’ mother Bernie called for anyone with information on her son’s whereabouts to come forward so he could be buried at their local church.

“We beg anyone who may know where he is to come forward and give us this small measure of peace,” she said outside court.

Griffiths said Bornstein and Tan’s sentencing was the end of the court proceedings for the family but not an end to their grief.

“It’s not closure, nor true justice,” she said.

Griffiths has not been seen since his abduction but police later obtained a photo of his body wrapped in plastic.

Prisoners in Queensland can be denied parole if a victim’s body has not been located and the parole applicant is found to have not co-operated fully.

Williams said any further consequences for Tan and Bornstein would be a matter for the parole board.

Grbavac died of critical head injuries after an alleged fight with another prisoner in February 2024.

Two men are due to stand trial in 2025 for the alleged murder of Walsh.