Group shooting and butchering rare wild bull sentenced

After shooting a rare bull to death, the two defendants butchered its meat and sold it for money.

On April 25, at the People's Committee of Ma Da commune, the People's Court of Vinh Cuu district (Dong Nai) opened a mobile court to try and sentence defendant Le Nguyen Anh Hung (21 years old, residing in Ma Da commune, Vinh Cuu district) to 3 years in prison for violating regulations on protecting animals on the list of endangered, precious, and rare species prioritized for protection and 2 years in prison for illegally storing and using military weapons. The total sentence that defendant Hung must serve is 5 years in prison.

Also related to the case, defendant Le Thanh Son (44 years old, Hung's biological father) was sentenced to 1 year in prison, suspended, for illegally possessing military weapons, and Le Minh Tien (33 years old) was sentenced to 9 months in prison for violating regulations on protecting animals on the list of endangered, rare and precious species that are prioritized for protection.

3 defendants in court.

In addition, the Court also tried in absentia and sentenced defendant Le Nguyen Anh Yen (18 years old) to 9 months in prison for illegally possessing military weapons. The Trial Panel requested the investigation agency to issue a warrant to arrest Yen and bring her to serve her sentence.

According to the indictment, in mid-2014, Hung picked up two AR15-like guns and a homemade gun, along with 10 bullets at a tree stump in the forest in sub-region 105, Conservation Area (Ma Da commune) and brought them home to hide.

In early February 2016, Hung bought 100 bullets from an unknown person for 1.7 million VND. Then Hung and Pham Thanh Liem (16 years old, living in Ma Da commune) brought a gun and 5 bullets to Dong Nai Cultural Nature Reserve to hunt wild animals.

Here, the two subjects shot and killed a gaur weighing about 200 kg. After that, the two invited Tien to cut 51 kg of meat and brought it to Binh Phuoc province to sell to Nguyen Thi Huong (46 years old) for 6.1 million VND. As for the liver, gallbladder and heart of the cow, the subjects ate a part and threw away the rest.

On March 11, both were arrested by Vinh Cuu District Police while hiding at the house of Hung's uncle, Le Nguyen Thanh Luan (32 years old) in Binh Phuoc Province. Tien later surrendered.

After Hung was arrested, Mr. Luan found the gun used to shoot the bull hidden in the garden, so he intended to bring it back to the police to hand it over, but Mr. Son prevented him and took the gun home to keep. Only when the police invited him in for questioning did he confess and hand it over.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong did not know that the meat bought from Hung and Tien was wild bull meat, so she did not commit a crime. As for Pham Thanh Liem, because he was under 16 years old at the time of the crime and the crime was less serious, he is not criminally responsible./.

According to VOV