Death sentence for student who murdered female owner of luxury apartment for robbery

Pham Thanh Tung (22 years old, residing in Thanh Binh ward, Ninh Binh city, Ninh Binh province) was a student at a university training in the field of physical education and sports in Hanoi.

Through the social network Facebook, Tung met Ms. Pham Thu H (37 years old, owner of a luxury apartment in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi) and quickly became "close friends".

Due to losing money gambling and having a lot of debt, after having sex, Tung murdered Ms. H to steal her property and get money to pay off the debt.

From early morning, many relatives and friends of the victim were present at the court to follow the trial. They brought the victim’s portrait to the court and white mourning bands. Although very angry with the defendant’s actions, the victim’s relatives remained silent to listen to the defendant testify in court about the crimes he committed against the victim.

According to the indictment of the Hanoi People's Procuracy, in June 2017, Tung met Ms. H through the social network Facebook. After a while, due to his addiction to gambling and constant losses, Tung lost his ability to pay his debts. In a desperate situation, Tung came up with the idea of ​​murdering Ms. H to seize her property to pay off his debts.

On the morning of October 31, 2017, Tung went to Ms. H's luxury apartment and the two had sex. Knowing that Tung had no money, after having sex, Ms. H gave Tung 1 million VND for personal expenses. After receiving the money, Tung did not leave immediately but deliberately stayed.

At 2:00 p.m. the same day, while Ms. H was sitting at the dining table, Tung strangled her. Hearing Ms. H scream, Tung covered her mouth and strangled her with both hands. With the intention of killing Ms. H, Tung took a pair of scissors and a sharp knife from Ms. H's apartment and stabbed her repeatedly in the chest, causing her death.

After committing the crime, Tung ransacked the apartment and took money and property worth more than 120 million VND from the victim. The next day, Tung used part of the stolen money to go to Chuc Son town (Chuong My district, Hanoi) to buy clothes for himself. At this time, Tung was discovered and urgently arrested by the police.

Attending the trial, the victim’s family representative requested the Trial Panel to sentence the defendant to the maximum penalty for murder. Regarding the civil part, the victim’s family representative requested the Trial Panel to force the defendant to pay 1.4 billion VND in compensation. The defendant cried and apologized to the victim’s family members and hoped the Court would reduce the sentence so that he could have a chance to make amends for his crimes.

After deliberation, the Trial Panel affirmed that the defendant is no longer capable of being educated and reformed, so the highest penalty commensurate with the defendant's actions must be applied.

The Trial Panel sentenced the defendant Tung to death for murder and 9 years in prison for robbery. Combining the sentences for both crimes, the Trial Panel ordered the defendant Tung to serve a combined sentence of death. In addition to the prison sentence, the Trial Panel also ordered the defendant to pay civil compensation to the victim's representative according to the law.