Testimony of the husband who took his wife's car to break into the safe and stole more than half a billion dong

More than 6 months ago, when hearing the news that Tran Van Linh (34 years old), from Nghia Minh commune, Nghia Dan district, was arrested for being involved in a major theft of property from a company, his relatives in his hometown were extremely shocked and surprised. Because at that time, Linh was renting a room and working in Vinh city.

During his time in the city, Linh worked as a welder. Among the construction companies that Linh worked for, he worked at Nghe Tinh General Materials Joint Stock Company (located in Vinh City). Accordingly, Linh went to the accounting department of this company to ask for an advance payment for the project. From here, this man knew the layout and location of the company and guessed that there was money in the safe in the accounting department.

Defendant Tran Van Linh. Photo: Tran Vu

Being in debt, Linh had the idea of ​​stealing. At 9:00 p.m. on October 6, 2021, Linh drove a car carrying a canvas backpack containing tools for stealing, including a cutter and a hammer. Unable to break into the company through the main entrance because the door was locked, Linh climbed up the metal roof to the second floor through the window.

Linh chose the accounting department of this company to enter and search for assets. Here, Linh used a hand-cutting machine to cut holes in 2 safes and took away 540 million VND. The theft took about 1 hour. After escaping from the scene, Linh drove around the city before returning to his rented room.

Linh used the stolen money to pay off debts to many people, in many places, ranging from 18 to 63 million VND. Linh also paid off debts to many small traders at Vinh market, totaling 160 million VND. Linh spent the remaining nearly 200 million VND on personal expenses and hid it on her person and in her rented room.

The tool Linh used to break into the safe and steal money. Photo: Tran Vu

Returning to the theft, after discovering the company's property was missing, the victim reported it to the police. At the scene, the suspect left very few traces. When committing the crime, the suspect used a mask to cover his face, wore gloves and always looked for hidden corners to avoid security cameras. However, through professional measures, the police force identified the suspect. On October 8, 2021, when he learned that his theft was exposed, Tran Van Linh went to the police station to surrender and admit his crime.

At the trial for the crime of theft of property, defendant Tran Van Linh always bowed his head, admitting all the crimes as charged in the indictment. Linh stated that due to the pressure of debt, at that time Vinh City had just gone through the application of the enhanced Directive 16, so work was difficult. The defendant owed many people a large sum of money, so he took the risk and committed the theft. "At that time, the defendant was under pressure of debt, needed money to spend so much that he could not think much. The defendant is very remorseful for his actions," Linh stated in court.

After the incident, the defendant’s family compensated the company’s representative for all damages. The victim did not request any further compensation from the defendant and asked for a lighter sentence for the defendant. A relative of the defendant shared that they were completely unaware of Linh’s debt and theft. After Linh caused the incident, they borrowed money to compensate the company with the full amount of 540 million VND.

Defendant Tran Van Linh on trial day. Photo: Tran Vu

The defendant’s young wife came to court and stated that she had no idea that her husband had used her car to commit the theft. According to her, the car was bought for her by her parents. Therefore, she asked the court to return the car that Linh used to commit the theft to her. She also apologized to the company.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant's theft was a violation of the law. In this case, the defendant had many mitigating circumstances: he turned himself in, confessed honestly, repented, voluntarily surrendered, and influenced his family to compensate for all the damage as requested by the victim's legal representative; the defendant's family had someone with revolutionary contributions. In addition, the victim had submitted a petition for a reduction in the defendant's sentence. Considering the case as a whole, the panel of judges sentenced defendant Nguyen Van Linh to 7 years and 6 months in prison for theft of property.