The dark past of the man who killed his cellmate out of jealousy

(Baonghean.vn)- Believing that his wife had a relationship with a fellow prisoner, Tran Van Cuong planned to find his wife and Toan to "show them off". After committing the crime, Cuong ran to Tuong Duong with the intention of escaping to Laos....

Born and raised in Vinh Tan Ward (Vinh City), Tran Van Cuong dropped out of school after 7th grade. Due to lack of attention and supervision from his family, Cuong followed bad elements in society, committed many thefts and then got into drugs without realizing it. Notably, on November 14, 2003, when he had just turned 16, Cuong was arrested for child molestation. Although he was not yet 18 at that time, because his crime was particularly serious, Cuong was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Subject Tran Van Cuong

After serving his prison sentence, Cuong returned to his hometown. However, instead of doing honest business, he continued to follow a group of young men with criminal records, ready to cause trouble with anyone.

After being released from prison for 2 years, on October 11, 2010, Tran Van Cuong was arrested for intentionally destroying property and was sentenced to 9 months in prison by the People's Court of Vinh City. On July 11, 2011, Cuong was released from prison and returned to his hometown but still refused to repent and continued to commit crimes. In particular, after participating in a murder case that occurred at Cua Tien Bridge, Cua Nam Ward, Vinh City, Cuong became famous for his hooliganism and aggressiveness.

Accordingly, on February 7, 2013 (before the Lunar New Year 2013), just because of a small conflict, Tran Van Cuong's group and Dao Manh Ha's group "arranged" to fight each other (including Vo Dinh Toan, Cuong's friend). Dao Manh Ha's group, consisting of 9 other people, went to the Cua Tien bridge area, prepared bricks, stones, swords, guns and discussed a plan to "deploy troops" to fight back against Cuong's group.

About an hour later, Cuong’s group brought weapons and rode 3 motorbikes to the Cua Tien bridge area to “talk” to their opponents. There, both groups, consisting of a total of 19 people, stabbed and slashed each other.

House of Tran Van Cuong and his wife

During the fight, Tran Van Do used a gun he had hidden on him to fire a shot that hit Tran Van Thanh (21 years old), a resident of Doi Cung ward, Vinh city, in the chest, causing the victim to collapse to the ground and die on the way to the emergency room.

After shooting Thanh dead, Ha's group and Cuong's group fled the area. After the incident, the Criminal Police Department (CSHS) coordinated with the Vinh City Police Department's CSHS Team to investigate and prosecute the above subjects, including Tran Van Cuong and Vo Dinh Toan. In this case, Tran Van Cuong was sentenced to 18 months in prison for disturbing public order, plus 12 months in prison for property destruction but has not been executed.

After being released from prison and returning home, Cuong often beat his wife, Le Thi Hoa (born in 1990), who lives in block 1, Vinh Tan ward. Believing that Toan and Hoa had a sexual relationship, he planned to take “revenge”.

In addition, every time Hoa beat her wife, she called for help, but Toan ran to her house to stop her, so Cuong's "jealousy" increased. After Tet 2016, Cuong kicked his wife out of the house and announced that he was cutting ties with Toan.

As for Ms. Hoa, although the couple had separated and were waiting for the divorce court date, she still often visited Mr. Toan's house to play and confide in his mother. Many times, she even asked Mr. Toan to take her to a friend's house to play or go out for coffee.

It is known that before the heartbreaking crime happened, Tran Van Cuong had visited Vo Dinh Toan's house in Quang Trung block, Vinh Tan ward many times to find Hoa and Toan to "show them off". Specifically, in early April 2016, Cuong brought a weapon to Toan's house. Not seeing the victim at home, Cuong broke the glass door and air conditioner of Toan's family, then ran to Vo Dinh Vuong's house - Toan's uncle to look for him but could not find him.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Quang, deputy block leader of Quang Trung block, Vinh Tan ward (Vinh city) said: After the incident, the block government and Vinh Tan ward police came to the scene to stop it and make a record, but Tran Van Cuong had already escaped. After that, the ward police were present at Cuong's private house in block 1, Vinh Tan ward to clarify the matter.

“When we arrived at his house, Cuong was at home. He said he was going upstairs to get dressed and then he would go to the ward office to work. However, taking advantage of a gap, he escaped through the back window. At Cuong’s house, we seized a sword nearly 1 meter long,” said Major Nguyen Thanh Linh, Regional Police Officer of Vinh Tan Ward Police.

Also after the above incident, Vo Dinh Toan's mother submitted a petition to the authorities requesting that Tran Van Cuong be punished for his illegal behavior. From April 25 to 27, 2016, the Vinh City Civil Judgment Enforcement Office called Tran Van Cuong to appear at the authorities to serve his 9-month prison sentence for resisting a person on official duty (which was sentenced by the court in late October 2015), but Cuong did not comply.

Vinh City Police deploy plan to capture murderer

At about 1:20 p.m. on June 2, 2016, at alley 21, Dang Van Thuy street, block 15, Cua Nam ward, Vinh city, Mr. Vo Dinh Toan and Ms. Le Thi Hoa - Cuong's wife were waiting for a taxi when Cuong appeared, suddenly pulled out a knife and slashed Mr. Toan and Ms. Hoa in the head. Accordingly, Ms. Hoa suffered 2 wounds on her forehead and right forearm, Mr. Toan suffered 1 wound on the top of his head.

Immediately afterwards, the two victims were rushed to Nghe An General Hospital for emergency treatment. However, due to severe injuries, at 7 p.m. the same day, Vo Dinh Toan died.

After committing the crime, Tran Van Cuong quickly fled. On June 3, Tran Van Tri, residing in Hung Thinh Commune, Hung Nguyen District, was arrested by Vinh City Police for being an accomplice in helping Tran Van Cuong commit the above crime to serve the investigation.

Tran Van Cuong, however, still refused to surrender despite being persuaded by his family and the police. After 3 days of investigation, using professional measures, the Criminal Police Department of the provincial police recently arrested Tran Van Cuong for murder in Tuong Duong district before he fled to Laos.

PV Group