Another Heartbreaking & Senseless Australian True Crime Story ~ Dr. Victor Chang

Not to suggest that Canada, and every other country, is not rife with heartbreaking true crime stories, but some are just more notable than others. Even though this story is not a current story, as it happened more than thirty years ago, it is worth retelling since the killers are now out of jail. 

This story is about a heartless crime toward a man who had become a successful, and renowned heart transplant surgeon in Australia.

Dr. Chang was an Australian transplant surgeon who was murdered in 1991 in a failed extortion, kidnapping attempt. He was on his way to work a the time, and had a patient waiting for a heart transplant when he was killed.

He was born in Shanghai China, and after his mother died of cancer when he was just twelve years old, he chose a career in medicine. His father sent him to school in Australia where he believed his gifted young son would have better educational and career choices.

As it turned out, he became a skilled, and accomplished transplant surgeon, rising to fame after a successful transplant on a fourteen year old girl in 1984. She desperately needed a transplant following a viral tonsillitis that infected her heart. Two years after the first transplant, the initial surgery failed, and she was required to go through a second heart transplant in 1986.

After the second transplant, she went on to lead a healthy life, and became the longest surviving transplant patient on record in Australia. She also became a tireless advocate for the work of Dr Chang and his team. 

As a matter of interest, one of the longest surviving heart transplant patients globally, is from Canada. His name is Harold Sokyrka, and his transplant was carried out in 1986 in Ontario. He lived just one week short of thirty-five years following the transplant.

It took several years for the pioneers of this surgery to achieve success. The first heart transplant was performed in 1967 on a 53 year old patient in South Africa. He died of complications just eighteen days later.

At the time of his death, Dr. Chang and his team had performed 266 heart transplants during his career. His accomplishments were awe-inspiring, and even so, at that juncture of his life, he was at the top of his game. He would have performed many more heart transplant surgeries, if his life had not been cut short. He had a healthy stable family life, and was known to be a compassionate man.

He had no way of knowing he had been targeted. He was a man of routine, taking the same route to work each day. He had a wife, and three children, who were all at home, at the time of his murder.

The preposterous nature of the crime shocked Australia, and the world. Because he was targeted by Asian men, initially it was believed to have been gang related.

Rumours also circulated that perhaps he was targeted by Chinese authorities, because of his pro-democracy political leanings. But these theories proved to be unfounded.

The crux of the plot stemmed from initially three, then two Malaysian men who had racked up huge gambling debts. So they concocted a scheme to extort money from a rich and famous person, in order to pay off their gambling debts.

The majority of murder victims are killed by someone they know. This case falls into the random stranger attack category, which is always much more disturbing to the general public, as it makes people feel very vulnerable. There is a loss of security for all people, because if it can happen to a person who is simply on their way to work, it can happen to anyone.

In this case, Dr. Chang was well known, which put him in the crosshairs of deranged killers. It was a money making scheme they focused on for many weeks, yet the murder ended up being a hair brained impulsive act. 

They saw an article about Dr. Chang while thumbing through a magazine, and randomly chose him as a target. It was as amateur, stupid, and ill-conceived as can be. Yet it cost this poor man his life.

Following the magazine selection, they watched him closely for weeks on end, to determine where he lived, and what his routines were. On the morning of the murder, they followed him on his way to work, and rammed his vehicle, staging a car accident, which forced him to pull off the freeway, and get out to talk to the men.

It did not take long for Dr. Chang to realize it was an extortion plot. The men demanded ten million dollars. He refused. They told him they were going to take him back to his house, and kill his family.

Dr. Chang was not going to allow these thugs to get near his family. He started calling out to people who were passing by to “Call the police, these men have guns”. One of the people walking by, came close to being shot as well. He managed to run away just seconds before Dr. Chang was shot. 

When the Malaysian men could not gain the good doctor’s cooperation, one of them promptly shot him in the head, point blank.

If they would have left at that point, he would still be alive, because the first shot was not fatal, even though it knocked him out. Unfortunately, the crazy criminal shot him again.

Remarkably, the killer dropped his wallet at the crime scene, with all kinds of evidence in it. The police were able to identify him, track him down, and soon after, his accomplice was also captured, even though he had left the country.

Given the fact these men were gamblers, one can see the patterns of high risk and impulsive behaviours, with little chance of succeeding.

There was also unbridled greed, considering they demanded ten million dollars. They set themselves up for failure, and killed a man for no reason. They gained nothing but a lengthy prison sentence. 

Both men were charged, and sentenced to around 25 years in jail. They have since been paroled, and were promptly deported.

One of the men convicted of this crime, was already in advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease by the time of his release. Although it is probably of little consolation to the family, he made a heart-felt plea for forgiveness, expressing profound remorse.

Dr. Chang’s legacy lives on, through his family, as well as his lengthy career. Millions of dollars have been raised to continue the work he embarked upon. He was given prestigious awards, and will certainly never be forgotten by his patients, and their families.

In one of the final interviews he gave, he prophetically said, “Life is not certain for any of these people.” After a brief pause, he said to the interviewer, with a serious and thoughtful expression on his face, “And it is not certain for you and I either”.

Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2023). Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.