Burned down neighbor's house for not paying back borrowed money

On August 13, the Investigation Police Department of Da Nang City Police detained Nong (residing in Hoa Minh ward, Lien Chieu district) for the act ofKilling.

Nong was summoned after the police extracted camera data around the scene and discovered images with characteristics similar to Nong's clothes and vehicle used to go to work every day. Nong is a neighbor of the victim.

Suspect Nguyen Van Nong. Photo:Nam Em

At the police station, Nong confessed that at the end of 2020, he lent his neighbor Nam on Bau Nang 11 Street, Hoa Minh Ward, 60 million VND to complete the paperwork for a piece of land. Mr. Nam promised to pay him back immediately, so Nong lent him the money he was saving to build a house.

However, Mr. Nam only paid Nong 10 million VND and then tried to avoid him. Every time Nong went to Mr. Nam's house to collect the debt, he was chased away. Feeling resentful for a long time, this person texted him threatening to burn down the house and kill Mr. Nam's entire family.

Nong bought a mini welding gas cylinder set to store at home, and prepared a plastic can to put in his attic. Every week, Nong bought gasoline to fill the can to store, about 7 liters. He also carefully surveyed his neighbor's house.

At around 2:00 a.m. on August 10, Nong rode his motorbike to Mr. Nam's house and used a welding machine to punch a hole in the iron door behind the house to insert a gas pipe.

Nong then returned home, covered the plastic can containing gasoline with a T-shirt, drove it to Mr. Nam's house, used a homemade plastic pipe to pour all the gasoline in through the hole he had punched, lit it on fire at 3am, then rode his motorbike home.

Mr. Nam's wife woke up to go to the bathroom at the exact moment Nong started the fire, so she shouted for the other three people in the house to escape. The fire was brought under control. The victim suspected arson, so she extracted the camera footage and reported it to the police.