Having criminal records, the 'couple' still indulged in gambling

On July 26, 2021, Tan Ky District People's Court tried the criminal case against Nguyen Huu Tuan (born 1969) and Le Van Hao (born 1972), both residing in Tan An commune, Tan Ky district, for gambling.

At about 7:00 p.m. on May 29, 2021, Le Van Hao, Duong Van Hien, residing in Tan An commune, and Nguyen Tat Coi, residing in Nghia Phuc commune, came to Nguyen Huu Tuan's house to play. Hien initiated gambling and everyone agreed.

Nguyen Huu Tuan and Le Van Hao at the trial. Photo: Phuong Hao

Tuan spread out a mat and took out a deck of cards for everyone to gamble. Le Van Hao, Nguyen Huu Tuan, Duong Van Hien and Nguyen Tat Coi agreed to gamble using the card game "Phom".

The four people were gambling until about 9:45 p.m. the same day when the Tan Ky District Police conducted an administrative inspection, discovered, caught red-handed, made a record of the incident, confiscated and sealed evidence related to gambling and brought the subjects to the Tan Ky District Police headquarters for questioning.

The investigation proved that Tuan, Hao, Hien and Coi used 1,670,000 VND for gambling purposes.

The Tan Ky District Police Investigation Agency seized 6,670,000 VND from the gambling participants. In this case, Duong Van Hien and Nguyen Tat Coi both participated in gambling, but the total amount of money used for gambling purposes by these people was less than 5 million VND. Hien and Coi have no criminal record for gambling, organizing gambling, and gambling, so this behavior is not enough to constitute the crime of gambling, so the Tan Ky District Police issued a decision to impose an administrative penalty.

Tuan has 1 previous conviction and 1 previous conviction, both of which were fined for gambling, and his criminal record has not been cleared; Hao has 1 previous conviction for gambling.

At the end of the trial, the jury sentenced Nguyen Huu Tuan to 6 months in prison and Le Van Hao to 9 months of non-custodial reform.