Sentenced to death, "bandit" fainted in court

After a day of trial, on the afternoon of April 10, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced defendant Cao Hong Phuc (born in 1995, residing in Ho Chi Minh City) to death for murder and 14 years in prison for robbery. The total sentence that defendant Cao Hong Phuc must serve is the death penalty.

The defendants listened to the court's verdict.

In addition, the panel sentenced defendant Nguyen Tan Phuc (born 1995, residing in An Giang province) to life in prison for murder and 13 years in prison for robbery. The total sentence that defendant Nguyen Tan Phuc must serve is life in prison.

In connection with the case, the People's Court also sentenced the remaining four defendants to 7 to 11 years in prison for robbery.

According to the indictment, on the night of December 12, 2015, Mr. Thao and a group of friends were drinking beer at a snail restaurant on Street 4, Ward 6, District 8. At this time, Tan Phuc was also drinking beer with a group of friends next to him.

At around 9pm the same day, Tan Phuc's wife called her husband to come home but Phuc did not return, leading to an argument between the couple.

Hearing that, Mr. Thao said: "If you can't solve your family problems, don't go out and affect others. If you can't teach your wife, let me teach her...", then he took a glass of beer to Tan Phuc's table and intended to hit Tan Phuc, but was stopped by his friend.

After the incident, Tan Phuc left and met Hong Phuc to tell him what happened. Then, both of them brought knives to the snail restaurant to find Mr. Thao.

There, both of them stabbed Thao multiple times with a knife, causing his death. After committing the crime, both of them fled, causing many thefts in Go Cong Dong district, Tien Giang province. On April 26, 2016, Go Cong Dong district police issued a special wanted notice for Phuc.

While hiding from the arrest warrant, the two returned to Ho Chi Minh City and colluded with Phan Van Hung (born 1992), Phan Trung Hieu (born 1992), Nguyen Trung Kien (born 1994) and Nguyen Thanh Tung (born 1993) to commit a series of robberies in District 4, District 11 and Thu Duc District. On November 29, 2016, the suspects were arrested by Ho Chi Minh City police.

Defendant Cao Hong Phuc fainted when he heard the court's death sentence.

At today’s trial, the representative of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy stated that the defendants’ actions were dangerous to society, and that Nguyen Tan Phuc and Cao Hong Phuc had directly caused the death of victim Thao. Therefore, the panel of judges proposed that Nguyen Tan Phuc be sentenced to death and Cao Hong Phuc to life in prison.

After deliberation, the panel of judges determined that: Although Nguyen Tan Phuc was the mastermind, Cao Hong Phuc was the one who stabbed the victim to death. The defendant himself has many previous convictions and has not had his criminal record expunged. Therefore, the panel of judges sentenced defendant Cao Hong Phuc to death and Nguyen Tan Phuc to life in prison.

When hearing the verdict, Cao Hong Phuc fainted on the spot and had to be taken to the emergency room by medical staff.

Many relatives of defendant Hong Phuc immediately reacted, saying that the defendant was enticed, enticed, and played a supporting role for defendant Tan Phuc, and was sentenced to death without considering the entire content of the case.