Man sentenced to 20 years in prison for buying gasoline to burn down neighbor's house.

On April 15th, the Da Nang City People's Court held a mobile trial to hear the case against defendant Nguyen Van Nong (born in 1976, residing in Group 18, Hoa Minh Ward, Lien Chieu District) for the crimes of "murder" and "destruction of property".

According to the indictment, in 2020, Nguyen Van Nong lent 60 million VND to a neighbor, Tran Van Nam (born in 1974, temporarily residing in Hoa Minh ward, Lien Chieu district).

Later, Mr. Nam paid Mr. Nong 10 million dong, but he delayed paying the remaining amount and deliberately avoided paying.

Despite sending numerous threatening messages, Mr. Nam still did not pay the money, so around July 2022, Mr. Nong conceived the idea of ​​burning down Mr. Nam's house.

Defendant Nguyen Van Nong at the trial.

To carry out his plan, the defendant purchased a mini oxy-acetylene welding kit and a plastic container holding 7 liters of gasoline, keeping them at home while waiting for an opportunity to commit the crime.

In late July 2022, Mr. Nong brought a gas welding torch to Mr. Nam's house and cut a small hole in the iron emergency exit door at the back of the house. He then stuffed a piece of cloth into the hole and set it on fire. Because the fire was small, Nong left, and Mr. Nam's family did not discover the incident.

At approximately 2:00 AM on August 10, 2022, Mr. Nong continued to drive his motorbike, carrying a gas welding torch, to Mr. Nam's house. Mr. Nong parked his motorbike on the roadside nearby and walked to the emergency exit at the back of Mr. Nam's house, using the welding torch to widen the hole in the iron gate that he had previously cut.

After finishing the cutting, Nong gathered the welding tools and took them home to hide. Then, the defendant took the can of gasoline he had prepared beforehand and returned to the emergency exit at the back of Mr. Nam's house.

Here, the defendant used a makeshift plastic pipe to pour about 7 liters of gasoline from a can into the house and then set it on fire. When the fire broke out, Mr. Nong got in his car and drove home.

At that moment, Ms. Tran Thi Hoa (born in 1977, Mr. Nam's wife) discovered the house was on fire, so she shouted for Mr. Nam and their two children to open the front door to escape and quickly put out the fire. Some property inside the house was damaged by the fire, resulting in losses of over 7 million VND.

At today's trial, the defendant Nong testified that he was so angry at Mr. Nam's delay in repaying the debt that he wanted to intimidate him. Previously, every time the defendant went to demand payment, he was verbally abused and insulted by Mr. Nam's wife. During the investigation and at the trial, the defendant sincerely admitted his criminal actions.

The panel of judges assessed that, in this case, the defendant Nong committed the crime with aggravating circumstances, deliberately carrying out the crime to the end, using methods capable of killing many people and exhibiting a thuggish nature…

At the end of the trial, the panel of judges sentenced the defendant to 18 years in prison for "murder" and 2 years in prison for "destruction of property," for a combined sentence of 20 years.