Confession of employee who stole 455 taels of gold

Throughout the first instance trial on the afternoon of January 22 at the People's Court of Quang Nam province, Tuan kept his head down, not once turning to look at the victim or his relatives.

In 2010, when he had gained experience, Tuan was sent by the owner of the jewelry factory to work at a store on Hoang Dieu Street, managing the purchase and sale of gold in large quantities. The store owner monitored Tuan through a camera system.

Every day, Tuan works from 7am to 7pm, and in the evening, he collects the gold from the store and puts it in a container for the owner to take home to keep. The next morning, the store owner carries the gold out and Tuan arranges it in a glass display case.

After 2 years of working, Tuan had the idea of ​​stealing, so he observed the store and discovered a hidden corner where the camera could not capture images, and often chose this corner to steal gold. In addition, when collecting gold from the store to put in a box for the owner to take home and from home to the store, Tuan also chose a hidden corner where the camera could not capture images to steal gold, a little at a time.

"The defendant often chose days when the owner was busy to steal. Some days he took as little as half a tael, others as much as a tael of gold," Tuan testified in court, saying he bought a safe for his bedroom and put it in the safe every time he stole gold.

Before Tuan sold the gold, in Quang Nam, there were several incidents of masked thugs breaking into gold shops and using hammers to smash glass cabinets to rob. When they received news that Tuan was selling a large amount of gold, local authorities immediately sent people to Son Tra district. When the detectives arrived, Tuan and his brothers had finished the transaction and left the shop in a car.

The police chased and asked Tuan and his brother to stop the car, but Tuan and his brother resisted and barricaded themselves in. They were told that if they did not open the car door, they would be beaten and pepper sprayed, so Tuan and his brother agreed to get out.

The two Tuan brothers were invited to the police station. Initially, they said they found a pile of gold on the side of the road, but later said they had saved it for a long time and now needed to sell it.

At the same time, another working group worked with Tuan's father. He said that he accidentally found the gold while dredging sand from the river and gave part of it to his two children to take to Da Nang to sell for money to buy Tet.

Three days after being detained, after receiving the results of the investigation and the gold appraisal by the authorities, Tuan confessed the truth and voluntarily handed over an additional 225 taels of gold that was in the safe to the investigation agency. "Over the past 5 years, the defendant stole and kept it and did not sell it. The total amount of gold stolen was 455 taels," Tuan stated.

At first, the store owner did not believe that this was the gold Tuan had stolen while working. However, through the appraisal results and testimony, the store owner realized that the gold had been missing for a long time.

According to the store owner, because he saw that Tuan was gentle, hard-working, diligent, and willing to work, he was assigned to manage the gold trading. The stolen 230 taels of gold were valued at 5.5 billion VND, but Tuan only sold 5 billion VND, so the store owner asked for more than 500 million VND in compensation.

Having the last word, the defendant bowed his head and asked for a reduced sentence to start his life over. With the crimeTheft of propertyAccording to Article 173 of the Penal Code, Tuan was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to compensate the victim more than 500 million VND.