The jury sentenced defendant Pham Minh Cuong (born in 1994, residing in Buon Ho town) to 19 years in prison, Tran Vuong Trong Nghia (born in 1995, residing in Cu Jut district, Dak Nong province) to 18 years in prison and Nguyen Van Giap (born in 1995, residing in Cu Jut district, Dak Nong province). Born in 1994, residing in Buon Ma Thuot City) 18 years in prison for the same crime of “robbing property”.
Particularly, defendant Truong Cong Viet (SN 1997, residing in Krong Nang district) was sentenced to 8 years in prison for the crime of “Having property acquired by other people”.
According to the indictment, while serving a prison sentence at Dak Tan Prison (Ministry of Public Security), Cuong, Nghia, and Giap knew each other.
After being released from prison, in September 2022, Cuong discussed and persuaded Nghia to appropriate property in Buon Ho town. The target is Mrs. LTT and Mr. VVM (Chairman of People’s Committee of 1 district in Dak Lak). After being invited many times by Cuong, Nghia agreed and Nghia invited Giap to join him.
Around 7 a.m. on October 14, 2022, the group rode a car to the front of Mr. M.’s house to observe. After hearing the sound of Mr. M.’s car leaving the house, Cuong was out of sight, while Giap and Nghia jumped over the fence and broke into the house.
Here, two subjects used electric whips to threaten and control Ms. T. to open the safe and give the property. After taking all the money and gold in the safe with a total value of more than 2.3 billion VND, the subjects used duct tape to wrap her hands and feet to tie Ms. T. and then escaped.
The robbery also caused Ms. T. to have a fractured L3 vertebra, with a body injury rate of 23%. After that, even though he knew that he had stolen the money, when Cuong asked Viet to hide it, Viet agreed.
During the interrogation, many defendants could not remember exactly how many convictions they had received, so the jury had to repeat it many times. From April to July 2013, defendant Nghia was sentenced to 4 sentences by the People’s Courts of districts and cities in Dak Lak province for the crime of “Theft of property” with a total penalty of 14 years and 11 months in prison.
Similarly, from 2016 to 2021, defendant Giap also has 4 previous convictions for the crime of “Theft of property”. Defendant Cuong has a 15-year prison sentence for “Murder”, while defendant Viet has a 6-year prison sentence for “Rape of a child”.