A group of young people threw a 'gasoline bomb' into a single woman's house.

On October 11, at the People's Court of Nghe An province, the High People's Court in Hanoi opened a criminal appeal trial of defendant Tran Ngoc Hoa (born 1989), residing in Dien Tho commune, Dien Chau district, for two crimes.Destruction of propertyand Intentionally causing injury. Thai Ba Tinh (born in 1991), residing in Dien Tho commune, for the crime of property destruction and Cao Hung (born in 1990), residing in Dien Tho commune, for the crime of failure to report a crime. The two defendants Hung and Tinh did not appeal and have completed their sentences.

The trial was opened due to an appeal for a reduced sentence by defendant Hoa and an appeal by the victim requesting an increase in prison sentences for the three defendants, an increase in compensation, and the allegation that there were signs of criminals being let go.

According to the indictment, around mid-June 2019, Tran Ngoc Hoa was hired by a woman named Hoang (currently living abroad) to threaten Ms. D.TH (from Nghi My commune, Nghi Loc district) that she would receive 18 million VND. Hoang thought that Ms. H. had a relationship with her ex-husband.

On June 20, 2019, Hoa invited Thai Ba Tinh to Ms. H's residence, threatened her, and punched her twice in the head, causing her to fall to the ground.

Defendant Tran Ngoc Hoa (blue shirt) at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

Then, in the evening of June 29, 2019, Hoa called Tinh and said, "Tonight, go to Nghi Loc and burn down the shop." At midnight on June 30, 2019, Hoa prepared 2 bags of old clothes, 2 liters of gasoline, 1.5 liters of kerosene and 2 mini gas cylinders and went with Tinh to the front door of Ms. H's shop and set it on fire, damaging some property with a total loss of more than 4.7 million VND.

Seeing that the damage caused was not too great, on the evening of July 19, 2019, Hoa continued to prepare gasoline, a gas tank, a piece of rope and asked Cao Hung to "take him to work".

Upon arriving, Hoa tied a rope around the mouth of the gasoline can and the mini gas cylinders that were glued around the can, lit it on fire, and threw the gasoline can in front of the grocery store. At this time, Ms. H. had just come out when her leg was burned, so she ran into the bathroom to put out the fire and brought her two children out through the back door.

As a result, Ms. H. suffered 15% physical injury, a house, 2 motorbikes, groceries and all household items burned down with a total value of nearly 530 million VND.

At the first instance trial held in early August 2020, defendant Hoa stated that he had no grudge against the victim but threw gasoline because he was hired by someone else to receive 18 million VND.

The court of first instance sentenced Tran Ngoc Hoa to 10 years in prison for property destruction and 2 years in prison for intentional injury; the total sentence was 12 years in prison. Thai Ba Tinh was sentenced to 8 months in prison and Cao Hung to 9 months of non-custodial reform. In terms of civil matters, the court ordered Hoa to compensate the victim more than 609 million VND.

After that, the defendant Hoa filed an appeal for a reduced sentence. Meanwhile, the victim also filed an appeal with 3 contents: requesting to increase the sentence for the 3 defendants, increase the compensation and claiming that there were signs of letting criminals go unpunished.

At the appeal hearing, defendant Hoa maintained the same opinion as the first instance court. Hoa stated that he threw gasoline into the victim’s house because he was hired by a woman named Hoang. Defendant Hoa said that in terms of civil matters, the court’s decision to force him to pay more than VND609 million in compensation to the victim was too high because the asset valuation council concluded that the total value of the fire was only nearly VND530 million.

The victim's representative requested an increase in the prison sentence for defendant Hoa and an increase in the compensation amount to more than 820 million VND, because he believed that Hoa set fire to the house and burned the cash that the victim's family kept in the safe.

The appellate court determined that in this case, the defendant Hoa was the active perpetrator. However, the sentence imposed by the court of first instance on the defendant was appropriate. Therefore, the appellate court rejected the appeals of the defendant and the victim. Sentenced defendant Tran Ngoc Hoa to 12 years in prison for two crimes, and ordered the defendant to compensate the victim more than 609 million VND.