Group of Vietnamese 'hired killers' sentenced

On March 6, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial to try the case.Intentional injury.

The defendants brought to trial include: Nguyen Thi Van (born in 1985), residing in Quang Trung ward, Vinh city; Nguyen Thanh Hung (born in 2000), residing in Hung Loc commune, Vinh city; Pham Duy Dat (born in 2000), residing in Nghi Duc commune, Vinh city; Uong Sy Linh (born in 1997) and Nguyen Tu Phuoc (born in 2000), both residing in Nghi Phong commune, Nghi Loc district (Nghe An).

Defendants at trial. Photo: TV

The case file shows that on September 8, 2022, Van received a phone call from a woman named Ha (living in the US) asking to hire her to beat up Mr. Ma NV (born in 1964, American nationality) for $2,000.

Van agreed and called Pham Thanh Hung to hire him to beat Mr. V. for 28.5 million VND. When they met, Van showed Hung a photo of Mr. V. Hung agreed to be hired, so he called Phuoc, Linh, and Dat to join in injuring Mr. V.

At around 8:00 p.m. on September 10, 2022, after learning that Mr. V. was preparing to go out for the Mid-Autumn Festival, Van Dien informed the subjects of the location to commit the crime.

The subjects rode motorbikes together, following Mr. V. waiting for the opportunity to commit the crime. At around 10 p.m. the same day, discovering Mr. V. sitting on the back of an electric bicycle on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, Hung drove a motorbike, removed the license plate, and followed Dat. Dat then took a knife and slashed Mr. V.'s left leg, severing the knee's extensor tendon.

The victim was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment and was treated for a period of time. The investigation agency determined that Mr. V.'s body injury rate was 13%.

After committing the crime, Van gave Dat 19.5 million VND and Hung 9 million VND. Van benefited from the remaining amount.

On September 21, 2022, Phuoc and Linh turned themselves in to the police. The police ordered Van, Hung and Dat to be detained in case of emergency.

At the trial, the defendants confessed to their crimes. Defendant Van said he had known Ha before and was hired by this person to “injure Mr. V.” because he refused to pay his debt, so he agreed.

The victim's representative attended the court and requested the court to try the defendants according to the law.

The panel of judges determined that the defendants’ actions showed contempt for the law and caused disorder in the area. After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the court sentenced Nguyen Thi Van to 5 years in prison. The two defendants Uong Sy Linh and Nguyen Tu Phuoc were both sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison. Defendant Pham Duy Dat was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison; defendant Nguyen Thanh Hung was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

In civil matters, the court ordered the defendants to jointly compensate the victim more than 94 million VND (minus the 60 million VND already compensated).

Regarding the woman named Ha, because Van did not know her specific address, this person had left the country for the US; besides Van's statement, there was no document proving that this person hired Van to injure Mr. V, so the agency continued to investigate, verify, and handle the case later.