Assets of the man who hit the flight attendant seized
The investigation agency has seized the apartment of Nguyen Tran Hoang Phong, the Mercedes driver who hit and seriously injured a flight attendant, to ensure compensation obligations.
This decision is stated in the indictment that the People's Procuracy of Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City, has just completed and transferred the file to the court to prepare for the second trial of Phong, 34 years old, for the crime ofViolation of regulations on road traffic control.
 |
| Defendant Phong during his court appearance in April 2021. Photo: Hai Duyen |
According to the indictment, Phong did not have a driver's license and used fake documents to rent a Mercedes to drive around. On the morning of January 30, 2020 - the 6th day of Tet, Phong drove a group of friends in the wrong direction on Hong Ha Street, heading towards Tan Son Nhat Airport, hitting GrabBike driver Le Manh Thuong who was carrying flight attendant Nguyen Thi Bich Huong. The accident resulted in Mr. Thuong's death and Ms. Huong's disability of 79%.
After causing the accident, Phong threw away the fake documents on the road and fled. The next day, he turned himself in. Test results showed that Phong tested positive for drugs.
At the end of 2020, Phu Nhuan District People's Court held the first-instance trial and sentenced Phong to 7 years and 6 months in prison; ordered him to compensate Ms. Huong 1.4 billion VND and Mr. Thuong 447 million VND.
Phong appealed for a reduced sentence; Ms. Huong and Mr. Thuong's family asked the appellate court to increase the defendant's sentence and clarify that the defendant had transferred his apartment to his mother to "evade compensation responsibility". In April 2021, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court of Appeal overturned the first instance judgment and returned the case to the first instance court for re-investigation and trial of Phong.
According to the panel of judges, the defendant’s testimony at the appeal and first instance hearings about the reason for transferring the apartment in his mother’s name were contradictory. The first instance court did not clarify whether the apartment belonged to Phong or the defendant’s mother, so it needed to be reinvestigated to ensure compensation for the victims.
 |
| Victim Huong and her defense lawyer in court in April 2021. Photo: Hai Duyen |
During the reinvestigation, on February 14, Phu Nhuan District Police ordered the seizure of Phong's apartment in Go Vap District to ensure responsibility for compensating the victims.
Currently, Phong's mother has compensated Ms. Huong and Mr. Thuong's representative 60 million VND each. Now Ms. Huong requests a total compensation of more than 1.6 billion VND, and Mr. Thuong's family a total of more than 400 million VND.