Two young men sentenced to prison for stealing four dogs.

On the morning of January 18th, the People's Court of Tan Ky District tried two defendants in a criminal case: Nguyen Van Hoa, born in 1975, residing in Tang Bat Ho hamlet, Son Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, for the crime of "Receiving stolen property"; Vo Ta Dung, born in 1991, residing in Hamlet 8, Cong Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district; and Nguyen Tat Tuan, born in 1975, residing in Block 1, Tan Ky town, for the crime of "Theft of property".

The defendants at the trial. Photo: Phuong Hao

According to the indictment, at approximately 3 PM on September 18, 2021, Dung called Tuan and invited him to go out.dog theftTuan agreed. At around 9 PM that same day, Tuan drove a dark blue Yamaha Sirius motorcycle (without a license plate) to Dung's house to pick him up. Both of them brought along an electric shock device with a noose, a roll of black adhesive tape, two sacks of snake carcasses, and a pair of pliers to steal dogs.

The two suspects stole three dogs from the following families: Ms. Nguyen Thi Th, residing in Dien Nam hamlet, Ky Tan commune; Ms. Lo Thi T, residing in Tham hamlet, Nghia Hoan commune; and Mr. Nguyen Thanh C, residing in Ke Mui hamlet, Giai Xuan commune.

At approximately 10:45 PM that same day, Tuan called Hoa to sell the dogs they had stolen. On their way to sell the dogs to Hoa, Tuan and Dung stole another dog from the family of Mr. Pham Ngoc S in Tan Phu commune. Afterwards, the two suspects took the stolen dogs to the area behind the Khanh Hanh guesthouse to meet Hoa.

When Hoa saw Dung putting four dogs into an iron cage, she realized that these four dogs were obtained through crimes committed by Tuan and Dung. Therefore, Hoa and Tuan agreed to buy each dog for 500,000 dong.

After buying the dog, Hoa drove his motorbike home. A while later, Tuan called Hoa but received no answer, so Tuan and Dung suspected that Hoa had been kidnapped. They then drove their motorbike back to the area near Roi Bridge in Ky Tan commune, Tan Ky district, and stopped.

Here, Dung used pliers to cut the noose and threw all the dog-stealing tools along with his mobile phone into the Con River before driving home. After that, Tuan and Dung fled the area.

At approximately 4:00 AM on September 19, 2021, realizing that his actions were illegal, Hoa went to the Tan Ky District Police Investigation Agency to surrender and hand over the four dogs.

On October 28, 2021, Vo Ta Dung was arrested and detained by the Tan Ky District Police Investigation Agency at Block 3, Tan Ky Town, Tan Ky District. On November 18, 2021, Nguyen Tat Tuan was arrested and detained by the Tan Ky District Police Investigation Agency at the Hai Phong restaurant in Nam Tuan Hamlet, Tra Linh Town, Trung Khanh District, Cao Bang Province.

During the investigation, the victims recovered their property and therefore did not request compensation.

At the end of the trial, the panel of judges sentenced Dung to 12 months in prison, Tuan to 9 months in prison, and Hoa to 7 months in prison.

Previously, Dung was sentenced by the Do Luong District People's Court to 8 months imprisonment, suspended for 1 year and 4 months, for the crime of "theft of property"; Tuan was sentenced by the Tan Ky District People's Court to 13 months imprisonment for the crime of "theft of property"; Hoa was fined 5 million VND by the Yen Thanh District Police for "theft of property" and sentenced by the Nghe An Provincial People's Court to 4 months imprisonment for the crime of "gambling".