Woman sentenced to death for murdering two lovers with cyanide.

On January 14th, the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City held an appeal hearing, rejecting the appeal and upholding the death sentence for defendant Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy (born in 1977 in Tien Giang province) for the crimes of murder and robbery.

Murder and robbery

According to the initial verdict, Thuy earned a living selling lottery tickets. Due to debts she couldn't repay, Thuy planned to seduce men for pleasure, then kill them with poison to steal their belongings.

Thúy and Mr. VTH (born in 1965, a street lottery ticket vendor) knew each other and had sexual relations multiple times.

Defendant Thuy was sentenced to death.

On the night of January 14, 2017, Thuy seduced Mr. H. into having sexual relations in an empty plot of land in Ward 1, Thai Hoa town, Go Cong Dong district, Tien Giang province. Taking advantage of Mr. H.'s inattention, Thuy put cyanide poison into his coffee. After Mr. H. drank it, he became unconscious and died on the spot. Thuy then took all the gold jewelry Mr. H. was wearing, worth approximately 15 million VND, to sell and pay off her debts.

Subsequently, on the morning of April 21, 2017, Thuy met Mr. NVT (born in 1968, residing in the local area) near the Go Cong Regional General Hospital. Seeing that Mr. T. was wearing a lot of gold and silver jewelry, Thuy again conceived a cruel plan to kill the victim and steal his property.

Thúy lured Mr. T. to a secluded coffee shop in Long Hung commune, Go Cong town, for some fun. After their encounter, Thúy secretly put cyanide poison into Mr. T.'s coffee, causing him to collapse and die in a hammock at the shop. Thúy also stole all of the victim's gold and silver, worth approximately 35 million VND, which she sold to pay off her debts.

On April 23, 2017, Thuy was arrested. Thuy had previously been convicted of fraud and misappropriation of property, and her criminal record has not yet been expunged.

For her actions, Thuy was sentenced to death by the Tien Giang Provincial People's Court for murder and 8 years in prison for robbery. In addition, she was ordered to pay 600 million VND in compensation for funeral expenses and emotional distress to the victim's family. Following the initial verdict, Thuy appealed for a reduced sentence.

No longer possible to renovate.

At today's trial, the defendant Thuy only admitted to murdering Mr. T. Regarding the death of Mr. H., Thuy claimed that she was coerced into confessing at the police station and that she did not know Mr. H. Furthermore, Thuy also claimed that she did not know the white powder added to Mr. T.'s coffee was poison.

Defendant Thuy claimed that the white powder identified by investigators as cyanide was given to her by a person named N., who lives near her house, and that she was told to give it to Mr. T. to drink. She stated that she had no motive to murder Mr. T.

Contradicting the defendant's testimony, the investigator stated that there was no coercion or torture, and all statements were voluntarily written by the defendant in the presence of her lawyer. Furthermore, the panel of judges verified that the woman named N., as claimed by the defendant Thúy, did not exist.

After deliberation, the panel of judges concluded that all of the defendant's statements admitted to committing the act of killing two people, including many statements witnessed by lawyers and prosecutors. The defendant changed his testimony with the aim of concealing the truth and evading responsibility for the crime.

According to the court's assessment, the defendant committed murder and robbery solely out of greed. Within a short period, he committed two crimes in the same locality, causing exceptionally serious consequences.

The defendant, who had previously been convicted of fraud and received a suspended sentence, should have shown remorse, actively engaged in honest work, and complied with the law. However, due to his greedy nature, he did not change his ways and, in a short period of time, used poison to kill two people in order to steal their property in a bold and reckless manner, fearing detection.

Considering the defendant's actions were exceptionally dangerous and showed no possibility of rehabilitation or education, the panel of judges decided to reject the appeal and uphold the death sentence for the defendant Thuy.