After stealing a motorbike, the young man felt remorse and turned himself in to the police.

On the morning of October 18, Tan Ky District People's Court tried the criminal case against Le Van Tu (born in 1998), residing in Hamlet 2, Nghia Dong Commune, for the crime of "Theft of property".

According to the indictment, at 10:40 p.m. on August 10, 2019, Tu returned to Sa Nam hamlet, Nghia Dong commune, looked into Dang Minh Binh's motorbike repair kiosk and saw that the door was unlocked and no one was watching, so he had the intention of stealing property.

Tu sneaked into the kiosk and observed a black-gray Honda Wave motorbike with license plate 37Z9 - 6633, without a key, with its chain loose. It belonged to Mr. Cao Xuan Hoa (born in 1976), residing in Hamlet 1, Nghia Hop Commune, Tan Ky District, and was brought to Mr. Binh for repair, but the repair was not completed and was left at the kiosk. Tu took the motorbike out onto the street and pushed it along the inter-village road to the corner of his yard, then went inside to go to sleep.

Defendant Le Van Tu in court. Photo: PH

On the morning of August 12, Tu saw two strange men buying scrap metal passing by his house. He immediately called them in and sold the motorbike he had stolen for VND1,050,000. On August 22, Tu felt remorseful and went to the Investigation Police Agency (Tan Ky District Police) to confess his crimes.

Based on Tu's testimony, the Investigation Police Agency (Tan Ky District Police) conducted a search for the two men who bought the above motorbike, but because Tu did not know their names, ages, and addresses, they could not find and recover the HondaWave motorbike with license plate 37Z9 - 6633, black and gray.

According to the valuation conclusion of the Tan Ky District Property Valuation Council: the value of Mr. Binh's motorbike at the time of theft was 6,860,000 VND. On September 10, Ms. Ngo Thi Thuy (Tu's mother) compensated Mr. Dang Minh Binh 4,000,000 VND. Mr. Binh did not ask Tu to compensate for the remaining difference of 2,860,000 VND, and Mr. Binh also compensated Mr. Cao Xuan Hoa, the owner of the motorbike, the full amount of 6,860,000 VND. Neither the victim nor the person with related rights had any further civil claims.

At the end of the trial, the jury sentenced Le Van Tu to 9 months in prison with a suspended sentence.