Pouring weed killer down the debtor's well because he couldn't get the money back

On the morning of June 30, Tan Ky District People's Court tried the criminal case against Ngo Van Binh (born 1988), residing in Nghia Dong commune, Tan Ky district, for the crime of "Destruction of property”.

In August 2020, Mr. TVB's family, residing in Hamlet 4, Nghia Binh Commune, Tan Ky District, bought a number of dashboard tiles from Binh on credit (VND 6,000,000). Binh came to ask for the debt many times but Mr. B. did not pay.

Defendant Ngo Van Binh. Photo: Phuong Hao

On the evening of March 24, 2021, Binh wrote a threat on a cardboard box, then brought a bottle of pesticide to the debtor's house, poured the pesticide down the well, hung the cardboard box with the threat written on it on the gate, threw the bottle of weed killer into Mr. B's garden, and then went home.

Nearly 3 hours later, B. came home from drinking and saw a cardboard sign hanging on the left gate with many threatening messages about his family. The next morning, Mr. B. checked his home security camera and discovered the incident, so he sent a report to Tan Ky District Police.

In the Asset Valuation Conclusion of the Tan Ky District Asset Valuation Council, it is concluded that 1 (one) water well of Mr. B's house has a current value of 8,036,000 VND.

On March 26, 2021, realizing that his behavior was a violation of the law, Ngo Van Binh went to the Tan Ky District Police Investigation Agency to surrender, confessing all his crimes.

Binh has reached a civil agreement with the victim and voluntarily compensated and remedied the consequences for Mr. B. with a total amount of 20,000,000 VND, so the victim has no further requests and has submitted a petition to reduce the sentence for the defendant.

At the end of the trial, the panel of judges sentenced Ngo Van Binh to 9 months in prison, suspended, and 18 months probation.