Going to collect debt, mistakenly caught someone else's goats

(Baonghean.vn) - While going to collect debt from Mr. Hoang Van Thien's house, Cuong and a group of young gangsters hired to collect debt mistakenly captured the entire herd of goats from Mr. Tinh's house.

On September 28, the Provincial People's Court opened a criminal appeal trial of the Robbery case due to the appeal of Nguyen Duy Cuong (born 1986), Dinh Quoc Thang (born 1979), Tran Van Tung (born 1990), all residing in Quang Tien ward, Thai Hoa town.

Due to business relations, Ms. Vo Thi Hong Van lent Ms. Nam a total of 154 million VND many times. She asked for the money many times but Ms. Nam kept delaying payment and then "disappeared" from the area.

Ms. Van hired a group of Dang Quang Trung, Duong Ngoc Dung, Dinh Quoc Thang, Tran Van Tung and a man named Long to help collect the debt. On June 12, 2016, Ms. Van called her son, Nguyen Duy Cuong, and asked him to go with the group of young men to Ms. Nam's house to catch pigs and goats to collect the debt.

This group of people brought knives and swords to the house of Mr. Hoang Van Thien (Ms. Nam's husband) to threaten Ms. Duong (Mr. Thien's mother) and took away 29 pigs, 1 dog and some poultry.

Nguyen Duy Cuong, Duong Ngoc Dung and Tran Van Trung went to a nearby farm to catch goats. The group encountered opposition and obstruction from Mr. Tinh and his wife - the farm owners. Mr. Tinh affirmed that all the goats grazing on this farm belonged to him and his wife, and had nothing to do with Ms. Nam and Mr. Thien's families.

Cuong called his mother to inform her of the situation. Mrs. Van said that the goat belonged to Ms. Nam's family because she had "shown off" it to her many times. After hearing his mother say that the goat belonged to Mr. Thien and his wife, Ms. Nam, Cuong and the other young men used knives to threaten Mr. Tinh and his wife, and took 41 goats from the farm.

Nguyen Duy Cuong (standing in the middle) with Dinh Quoc Thang (far left) and Tran Van Tung at the trial. Photo: HL

The livestock and poultry that Cuong and the other young men took from Mr. Thien and Mr. Tinh were valued at nearly 157 million VND. In the trial on April 21, 2017, Nguyen Duy Cuong was sentenced by the first instance People's Court to 6 years in prison for "Robbery"; Dinh Quoc Thang to 5 years, Tran Van Tung and Dang Quang Trung to 4 years and 6 months each, Duong Ngoc Dung to 4 years in prison, and a young man named Long to a suspended sentence.

Cuong, Thang and Tung have filed an appeal to reduce their sentences.

At the appeal hearing, Nguyen Duy Cuong said he was aware of his crime but hoped the court would reconsider his act of robbing Mr. Tinh's goats.

The panel of judges determined that, in the process of capturing the goats of Mr. Tinh’s family, when faced with the couple’s objections, Cuong called his mother to inform her. This clearly shows that the defendant did not intend to rob Mr. Tinh’s property.

Considering the case as a whole as well as the nature and criminal role of Nguyen Duy Cuong as insignificant compared to the actions of the group of young gangsters hired by Ms. Van to collect debts, the panel of judges accepted the appeal, partially amended the first instance judgment, and sentenced Nguyen Duy Cuong to 3 years in prison.

The two defendants Dinh Quoc Thang and Tran Van Tung were not able to present any new mitigating circumstances compared to the first instance, so the appeal was not accepted./.

Nhu Binh