Former commune secretary charged with murder faces death penalty

On October 6, the Dak Nong Provincial People's Procuracy completed the indictment against Do Van Minh, 49 years old, and transferred the case file to the same-level court for trial on four charges.

In crimeKilling,Minh was prosecuted under Clause 1, Article 123 of the 2015 Penal Code, with the highest penalty ranging from life imprisonment to death penalty. CrimeAbuse of trust to appropriate property, the defendant was charged with a penalty of 12-20 years in prison. For the actsDestruction of propertyandTomb violation, he was prosecuted for 2-7 years in prison.

Do Van Minh at the time of his arrest in May. Photo:Ngoc Oanh

In the indictment, Minh was accused of killing his wife's nephew, burning the body to create a fake scene of his own death, so that his wife and children could receive 18 billion VND.insuranceHe just bought a whole life insurance package on April 9, paying more than 200 million VND per year. Minh came up with this idea due to debt and a loss of more than 10 billion VND when participating in the online coffee trading floor.

Investigators determined that, in order to have someone "die in his place", on April 25, the commune secretary drove to the cemetery in Dak Glong district (Dak Nong) to dig up the grave of a person who had just died of cancer, intending to take the body. Exhausted halfway, Minh gave up.

On the afternoon of May 4, he stopped by the farmhouse of his wife's nephew, Tran Nho Vuong, 25, in Dak G'long district, to carry out his plot to kill him. Late that night, Minh used a hammer to beat Vuong to death, put the body in a pickup truck and drove to Highway 28 (Dak Som commune, Dak G'Long district) - about 70 km from the crime scene.

Minh crashed the car into a roadside marker to create an accident scene. He put Mr. Vuong's body in the driver's seat, put his watch on the victim, left the keys... then burned the car with 3 cans of oil, 1 can of gasoline (each can 30 liters). He walked to a resident's house 1.5 km from the scene to get his Wave motorbike (which he had left behind) and then fled.

Do Van Minh burned a car on Highway 28 to create a fake crime scene. Photo:Ngoc Oanh.

The family of the Commune Secretary recognized Minh's car, watch, and keys, so they asked to take his body back to their home in Lam Dong for burial. Meanwhile, Mr. Vuong's parents searched for their "missing" son for many days.

On May 10, Minh was arrested while hiding in Binh Phuoc province.

In addition, from 2016 to the beginning of this year, Minh borrowed a total of more than 23 billion VND from 13 people but did not pay. The pickup truck Minh burned is mortgaged to the bank, and he still owes more than 97 million VND.