Sentence for the man who broke into the bedroom, gagged the homeowner and robbed the phone

On the morning of April 29, 2020, Tan Ky District People's Court tried the criminal case against Tran Van Hung (born in 1994), residing in Xuan Huong hamlet, Huong Son commune, Tan Ky district, for the crime of "Robbery".

At around 11:00 p.m. on February 22, 2020, after coming home from drinking, Hung drove his motorbike with license plate 37H1-2138 from Huong Son commune to Nghia Phuc commune to visit his wife and children who were at his wife's parents' house in Nghia Phuc commune.

When Hung passed by the house of Ms. Lang Thi Lam (born in 1976), residing in Nam Bac Son hamlet, Nghia Phuc commune, he had the intention of breaking into Ms. Lam's house to steal her property.

Hung drove the car to the yard of the Cultural House of Nam Bac Son hamlet and then walked to Ms. Lam's house. Hung discovered that the door to Ms. Lam's house was locked from the inside, so he pushed hard, causing the lock to pop open and then entered the house.

Defendant Tran Van Hung. Photo: Phuong Hao

Ms. Lam was sleeping in bed, when she discovered someone had entered the house, she woke up and said, "Who the hell got in here?" At the same time, she looked for her phone to turn on the light and saw a strange young man. Ms. Lam shouted, "Mom, someone has entered my house." Hung jumped onto the bed and used his hands to choke Ms. Lam, but Ms. Lam struggled and resisted and called for help.

Hung continued to use his left hand to cover Ms. Lam's mouth while his right hand searched the bed for belongings and found a light yellow Samsung Galaxy J2 prime phone of Ms. Lam. Hung took the phone, jumped out of bed and ran outside.

When running to the gate, Hung lost his plastic sandals, so he continued running barefoot to the village cultural house to get his motorbike and drive home. When he got home, Hung took out the sim card and hid it on the rain shield outside the window near Hung and his wife's bed, turned off the phone and hid it under the mat of Hung and his wife's bed.

On February 23, 2020, Ms. Lang Thi Lam reported the incident to Tan Ky District Police. On March 12, 2020, Tran Van Hung was arrested.

At the Investigation Police Agency, defendant Tran Van Hung honestly confessed his crime and declared where he hid the SIM card and the stolen phone so that the Investigation Police Agency of Tan Ky District Police could quickly recover the property.

In the Conclusion of valuation, the used Samsung Galaxy J2 Prime mobile phone that Hung appropriated has a current value of 1,440,000 VND.

At the end of the trial, the jury sentenced Hung to 3 years and 6 months in prison.