Death sentence for woman who murdered 2 lovers with cyanide

On January 14, the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City opened an appeal trial, rejected the appeal and upheld the death sentence for defendant Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy (born 1977 in Tien Giang) for the crimes of Murder and Robbery.

Murder and robbery

According to the first instance verdict, Thuy made a living selling lottery tickets. Because she had no money to pay off her debts, Thuy planned to seduce men into having fun, then kill them with poison to steal their property.

Thuy and Mr. VTH (born in 1965, a lottery ticket vendor) knew each other and had sex many times.

Defendant Thuy was sentenced to death.

On the night of January 14, 2017, Thuy solicited sexual intercourse with Mr. H. at a vacant lot in Ward 1, Thai Hoa Town, Go Cong Dong District, Tien Giang Province. Taking advantage of the moment when Mr. H. was not paying attention, Thuy put cyanide poison in Mr. H.'s coffee cup. When Mr. H. drank it, he passed out and died on the spot. Thuy took all the gold bracelets that Mr. H. was wearing, worth about 15 million VND, to sell to pay off his debt.

Then, on the morning of April 21, 2017, Thuy met Mr. NVT (born in 1968, residing locally) in the area near the Go Cong Regional General Hospital. Seeing Mr. T. wearing a lot of gold and silver, Thuy came up with a cruel plan to kill the victim to rob his property.

Thuy lured Mr. T. to a hidden coffee shop in Long Hung commune, Go Cong town to have fun. After the party, Thuy secretly put cyanide in the coffee cup, causing Mr. T. to drink it and collapse dead on a hammock at the shop. Thuy also robbed the victim of all his gold and silver, worth a total of about 35 million VND, and sold it to pay off his debt.

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

For her actions, Thuy was sentenced to death for murder and 8 years in prison for robbery by the People's Court of Tien Giang province. In addition, defendant Thuy was ordered to compensate the victim's family with funeral expenses and mental damage of 600 million VND. After the first instance verdict, defendant Thuy appealed for a reduced sentence.

No longer able to be renovated

At today's trial, defendant Thuy only admitted to murdering Mr. T., but as for Mr. H.'s death, Thuy said that she was forced to confess at the investigation agency, and that she did not know Mr. H. at all. In addition, Thuy also said that she did not know that the white powder put in Mr. T.'s coffee cup was poisonous.

Defendant Thuy said that the white powder identified by the investigation agency as cyanide was given to Thuy by a person named N. who lived near defendant Thuy's house and told him to give it to Mr. T. to drink, and that the defendant had no motive to kill Mr. T.

Rejecting the defendant's testimony, the investigator stated that there was no coercion or torture, all statements were written voluntarily by the defendant and witnessed by a lawyer. In addition, the panel of judges also verified that the woman named N. as defendant Thuy stated was not real.

After deliberation, the panel of judges determined that all of the defendant’s statements admitted to killing two people, including many statements witnessed by lawyers and prosecutors. The defendant changed his statements to conceal the truth and denied his guilt.

According to the jury, the defendant committed murder and robbery out of greed. In a short period of time, he committed two consecutive crimes in the same locality, causing extremely serious consequences.

The defendant was previously punished for fraud and appropriation of property, and was given a suspended sentence. He should have shown repentance, worked hard to earn a living, and obeyed the law, but the defendant was greedy and did not give up. In a short period of time, he used poison to kill two people and rob property in a bold and reckless manner, afraid of being discovered.

Considering that the defendant’s actions were particularly dangerous and beyond the scope of reform and education, the panel of judges decided to reject the appeal and uphold the death sentence for defendant Thuy.