The highest sentence for murderers and robbers

The knives of love

More or less, the relationship between Tran Van Nang (born in 1962), residing in Nhan Hoa commune, Vinh Bao district (Hai Phong city) and Ms. PTH (born in 1962), residing in Tan An commune, Tan Ky district (Nghe An) is also a close acquaintance. However, just because of a financial conflict, Nang stabbed the victim 14 times, taking her life, causing a stir in public opinion.

The murder case involving defendant Nang occurred more than a year ago. That was in July 2023, because of previous acquaintances, Nang took a bus from Hai Phong to Nghe An to meet Mrs. H. At Mrs. H's house, Tran Van Nang mentioned the matter of money because he thought that this woman owed him a sum of money, but did not pay.

That night, Nang lay thinking about Mrs. H's attitude and behavior up to now and thought that this woman had no feelings for him but was only using him to borrow money. Thinking of this, Nang had the idea to kill Mrs. H.

According to the indictment, at about 4 a.m. on July 15, Nang went into the kitchen to get a sharp knife and then went into the homeowner's bedroom. Seeing Mrs. H. lying on the bed, Nang approached and stabbed Mrs. H. in the chest. Suddenly stabbed, Mrs. H. stood up and said: "Why did you do that?" Nang replied: "You are cruel to me", then continued to stab the homeowner's back and shoulders many times until the victim collapsed.

After committing the crime, the killer took the victim’s motorbike, a handbag containing her phone and more than 600,000 VND and left the scene. At around 8am the same day, Ms. H’s son returned home and discovered his mother dead in the bedroom, so he reported it to the police.

Upon receiving the news, the authorities organized a manhunt for the perpetrator. A working group was sent to Hai Phong to verify Tran Van Nang's identity but to no avail. A day later, the "knot" in the case was solved when detectives discovered Ms. H's motorbike at the parking lot of a hospital in Hoang Mai town, about 80 km from the scene, and the person who parked the motorbike was Nang. Assuming that the perpetrator had parked the motorbike there and then taken a bus to the southern provinces, the Criminal Police Department sent many forces to search. On July 19, the police discovered Tran Van Nang on a bus traveling from Can Tho to Ho Chi Minh City, so they tightened the siege and arrested him.

Confession of a murderer and robber

At the investigation agency, the suspect Tran Van Nang admitted to the murder. At the same time, he confessed that after killing Mrs. H., he took a bus to the southern provinces to escape. The murderer also confessed that because he knew that he would be caught by the police sooner or later, he took advantage of the time to visit some provinces and cities to visit and travel.

For his crimes, defendant Tran Van Nang was prosecuted and brought to trial for two crimes:Killing" and "Robbery". At the first instance trial, the defendant admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment. The victim's family attended the court and requested the panel of judges to strictly try the defendant.

The first instance panel of judges determined that the defendant's actions were especially dangerous, of a hooligan nature, and intentionally took the victim's life, so they sentenced Tran Van Nang to death for "Murder" and 4 years in prison for "Robbery", with a combined sentence of death.

The defendant then appealed because he thought the sentence was too harsh. At the appeal hearing, the defendant admitted to stabbing the victim to death but justified it by saying that the victim had tricked him into borrowing money. The defendant stated that after borrowing the money, the victim treated him coldly and had no intention of repaying it.

After being asked to pay the debt many times but not being able to, the defendant had to take a bus back to the victim’s hometown. The defendant said that when he met the victim to ask for the debt, the victim used harsh and insulting words. “Because he was insulted, the defendant was upset, leading to his behavior losing control,” the defendant stated.

“The defendant stated that he was upset, and for that reason alone, he stabbed the victim many times while Ms. H. was sleeping. Was that cruel?”, the defendant remained silent in response to the panel’s question. The authorities determined that the defendant stabbed Ms. H. 14 times in many places on her body, causing her death. The defendant also remained silent in response to the panel’s question as to why he did not choose dialogue instead of using a knife to resolve the conflict.

Regarding the crime of robbery, the defendant stated that he did not intend to rob the victim. The reason he gave was that after committing the crime, he was so scared that he quickly grabbed the victim’s bag. Then, he took the victim’s motorbike with the intention of having a means to escape.

This defendant admitted that after the first instance trial ended, there was no move to compensate the victim's representative. Nang explained that because he had been living alone for a long time and no one from his family cared for him, he had no money to compensate the victim's representative. The defendant also stated that since his detention, he had received little attention or visits from his family and relatives.

Only when mentioning his family did the defendant show remorse. He explained his difficult circumstances, his lack of resources, and his old age, and asked the court to give him a chance to live and make amends for his mistakes. However, his remorse was too late.

The appellate court determined that, due to a minor conflict, the defendant stabbed the victim multiple times while the victim was sleeping. The defendant's actions were hooliganism, beyond the ability to educate, and he needed to be permanently isolated from society for general deterrence and prevention. At this trial, the defendant did not present any new details compared to the first instance court, therefore, the court rejected the defendant's appeal and upheld the death sentence for Tran Van Nang.

After the judge's verdict, the defendant's face darkened. So everything was over, for Tran Van Nang now everything was meaningless, even money... The case is a warning lesson for everyone, before an incident, we need to consider a reasonable and rational solution, not because we are too angry that we end up regretting and paying the price!