Karaoke bar owner beats customer to death for not allowing cigarette lighter

On the afternoon of March 28, the Hanoi People's Court decided to sentence Trinh Xuan Hoa (born in 1985, residing in Quang Phong commune, Quang Xuong, Thanh Hoa) to life imprisonment for the crime of "Murder" according to point n, clause 1, Article 93 of the 1999 Penal Code.

Hoa's accomplice, Dang Van Hanh (born in 1993, residing in Xuan Vinh commune, Xuan Truong, Nam Dinh) was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for the same crime of "Murder". The victim in the case was Ngo Tuan Anh (born in 1988), residing in Ha Dong district, Hanoi.

According to the indictment against the defendants, on the evening of January 8, 2017, Mr. Ngo Tuan Anh, his wife, children and some friends went to Trinh Xuan Hoa's Karaoke 86 in Kim Van - Kim Lu Urban Area (Hoang Mai, Hanoi) to sing. At about 0:20 on January 9, 2017, Mr. Tuan Anh and his wife left, while some friends stayed at the bar to sing for a while longer.

Karaoke bar owner beat customer to death for not allowing him to light his cigarette.

When they got to the karaoke bar, Tuan Anh's wife suddenly remembered that she had left her little son's bag of clothes in the singing room, so she asked the staff to go up and get it for her. Waiting for the person to bring the bag of clothes down, Tuan Anh took out a cigarette to smoke and talked to Hoa.

Seeing a customer smoking, Hoa also asked for a cigarette, but when he borrowed a lighter to light it, Tuan Anh joked, “We have cigarettes but no fire. If you want fire, you have to buy it.” That was all, but Hoa still had a conflict with the customer.

Seeing the owner being “joked” by the customer, Dang Van Hanh immediately intervened and then together with the owner of Karaoke 86 used his hands and feet to beat Tuan Anh. Even when Tuan Anh fell face down and everyone tried to stop him, Hoa and his gang still took turns beating the customer until he was lying motionless.

Although Mr. Tuan Anh was immediately taken to the emergency room by everyone, it was too late. The forensic examination of the victim showed that Mr. Tuan Anh suffered multiple injuries to his body and the cause of death was a traumatic brain injury.

Considering the defendants’ actions, the first instance panel of judges affirmed that the actions of Trinh Xuan Hoa and his accomplices against Mr. Tuan Anh were extremely thuggish, aggressive and especially dangerous to society. On that basis, the Hanoi People’s Court decided to sentence the karaoke bar owner and his accomplices to the above sentence.