8 times in court for theft of property but still not giving up

On the morning of February 14, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a criminal appeal trial of Nguyen Thi Hanh (born in 1961), residing in Block 1, Ben Thuy Ward, Vinh City, for the crime of "Theft of property".

According to the investigation agency's documents, at about 7:15 a.m. on July 25, 2019, Nguyen Thi Hanh hired a motorbike taxi from her house to Son market, in Xuan Son hamlet, Nghi Thach commune (Nghi Loc district) to buy fish.

At 8am, Hanh went to Nguyen Thi Hoa's fish stall to buy 3 fish. Hanh agreed to sell them to the customer for 50,000 VND. While Hoa was preparing the fish, Hanh reached into her basket and took out a leather wallet containing more than 5.6 million VND and a phone. Hanh hid the wallet and phone in her sun-protection shirt and left.

Defendant at trial. Photo: Tran Vu

Immediately after that, Ms. Hoa checked the storage basket and discovered that her property was missing, so she chased Hanh and called for the people to chase her. At that moment, the Nghi Thach commune police team arrived in time and arrested Hanh, confiscating all of the above property.

According to the asset valuation conclusion, Nguyen Thi Hanh took nearly 7 million VND from the fish seller.

At the first instance trial, Nghi Loc District People’s Court tried Nguyen Thi Hanh for “Theft of property” and sentenced her to 3 years in prison. Hanh appealed for a reduction in her sentence, believing that the sentence was too high.

At the appeal hearing, the defendant gave reasons for requesting a reduced sentence, stating that she was in difficult circumstances, was old, and had a sick husband with cancer. The female defendant cried and asked the court to reduce her sentence.

The defendant admitted that she had been to court many times for theft, but still reoffended due to her difficult and poor circumstances. It is known that Nguyen Thi Hanh had been to court 8 times for theft. In addition, the defendant was also administratively punished for gambling.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s repeated offenses demonstrated contempt for the law. At this trial, the defendant gave several reasons as stated above, but there was not enough basis to consider a reduction in the sentence. Therefore, the court decided to uphold the sentence for the defendant. Sentenced Nguyen Thi Hanh to 3 years in prison for the crime of “Theft of property”.