Murder must be punished

Defendant Loan

Defendant Cuong heard the verdict.

Kill young lover

Around June 2022, Nguyen Thi Bich Loan (born in 1979, residing in Nguyen Du hamlet, My Binh ward, Long Xuyen city ) and Nguyen To Truong (born in 1984, residing in An Binh commune, Nam Sach district, Hai Duong province) lived together as husband and wife in My Binh ward. However, the two often had conflicts and fought.

At noon on March 20, 2023, after drinking half a liter of alcohol, Loan rode her motorbike to find Truong and found Truong gambling for money in group 19 (Nguyen Du hamlet, about 300m from Loan's house). Loan told Truong to go home but Truong did not listen, Loan threatened to report to the ward police. When Loan turned away, Truong immediately hit her on the head with a nearby plastic dustpan, about 70cm long, breaking her helmet and causing injuries to Loan's head.

Angry, Loan ran to a nearby water vendor, grabbed a 21.5cm long gold-handled knife from the shop, turned around and stabbed Truong in the left thigh, causing him to fall to the street and become unconscious. Seeing Truong bleeding profusely, Loan panicked and asked people to take him to the emergency room. However, Truong died before reaching the hospital.

Upon receiving the report, My Binh Ward Police proceeded to secure the scene and invited Loan to come in for questioning. On March 22, 2023, Loan was prosecuted for investigation. During the investigation, as well as at the first instance trial, Loan sincerely repented and regretted her crime. The defendant said that she was addicted to alcohol and could not control her anger when Truong beat her, but did not intend to kill Truong. After reviewing the details of the case andeducating the defendant on her criminal behavior, the Provincial People's Court sentenced Nguyen Thi Bich Loan to 12 years in prison for "Murder".

Murder for gambling, debt

Due to his passion for gambling, Nguyen Hung Cuong (born in 1982, residing in An Luc Long commune, Chau Thanh district, Long An province) fell into debt. To have money to pay off his debt and continue spending, Cuong came up with the idea of… killing and robbing.

According to the investigation results, after serving a sentence for "Theft of property" in Ben Tre province, Nguyen Hung Cuong made a living by selling goods everywhere. Around the end of December 2022, Cuong and his girlfriend went to Chau Doc city to rent a room to do business and live. Cuong went to Thuong Phuoc 1 commune (Hong Ngu district, Dong Thap province) to sell coconuts and went to a casino in Cambodia to gamble, leading to debt.

While in Dong Thap province, Cuong learned that Mr. Vo Van Liem (born in 1954, residing in Thuong Phuoc 1 commune, Hong Ngu district) worked as a "motorbike taxi" driver, so he had the idea of killing someone to rob them. At around 7:00 a.m. on December 26, 2022, Cuong prepared a flat iron bar, about 30cm long, hid it in his backpack, then called Mr. Liem to come to Thuong Phuoc 1 market to pick Cuong up to go to Chau Doc city for 500,000 VND.

After that, Cuong pretended to ask Mr. Liem to drive him to a jackfruit garden in the area of Canal 8 (Long Hung Hamlet, Thuong Phuoc 1 Commune), where Cuong used to buy and sell coconuts to borrow money from acquaintances. Cuong asked him to drive to the end of the jackfruit garden and stop to drink water. Taking advantage of the gap, Cuong murdered Mr. Liem, took 34,000 VND, 1 gold ring, 1 cell phone and the victim's motorbike, with a total value of nearly 15.5 million VND.

After appropriating the property, Cuong drove the victim's motorbike to Chau Thanh District Police (Long An Province) to make a citizen identification card, then returned to Chau Doc City to live with his girlfriend. To avoid being detected by the authorities, Cuong used tricks to change the license plate and paint color of the motorbike. On December 31, 2022, people discovered the victim's body and reported it to the police. On January 5, 2023, Cuong was arrested and on January 9, 2023, he was prosecuted for investigation.

At the first instance trial, Cuong gave a evasive testimony to the Trial Council, showing coldness and lack of remorse, even though he had a criminal record. The Trial Council analyzed that, with his lazy and playful nature, the defendant fell into debt, so he planned to kill the victim and rob his property in a very cunning and deceitful manner. The defendant's actions showed cruelty, committing the crime to the end to satisfy his own will, causing outrage among the masses and the victim's family. Accordingly, the Provincial People's Court decided to sentence Nguyen Hung Cuong to death for the crimes of "Robbery" and "Murder".

NGUYEN HUNG

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