Two sentenced to death over family killing of six in southern Vietnam

Nguyen Hai Duong, 24, was sentenced to death for the murder of all six victims, including 48-year-old wood mogul Le Van My, his wife, two children and two relatives, at their house in Binh Phuoc Province on July 7, according to the verdict.

Vu Van Tien was sentenced to death for assisting Duong, even though the 24-year-old did not directly kill anyone.

The third defendant, Tran Dinh Thoai, 27, received the imprisonment on charges of murder and robbery although he himself did not kill anyone either.

Thoai was found guilty of helping Duong buy weapons for the mass killings.

He knew of Duong’s plan but did not report it to police, which is a criminal offence, prosecutors said.

After the bloodbath, Duong and Tien left the house with stolen assets worth VND49 million (US$2,188) in total.

Duong was the mastermind behind what prosecutors said was a barbaric, cruel, vile and organized murder plot, which left the community in shock.

He planned the murders to exact vengeance on the family of My for refusing to let him be in a relationship with their eldest daughter, 20-year-old Le Thi Anh Linh, according to the indictment.

Duong convinced Thoai to join him by saying they would only steal assets from the wood magnate, to which he agreed.

At midnight on July 3, the two came to My’s house but failed to persuade 14-year-old Du Minh Vy, the businessman’s relative, to open the gate for them as they had previously agreed.

The two men decided to return on July 5, but this time Thoai changed his mind, saying he had to take care of his sick grandma.

Duong then turned to Tien.

He told Tien that he needed to take back money that had been appropriated by My and that Tien could keep anything extra.

The two managed to persuade Vy to open the gate for them at midnight on July 7.

Duong killed Vy immediately after entering, which scared Tien.

After the first murder, despite Tien begging him to stop, Duong went on to directly kill the other five family members, including Linh, with his accomplice's help then and only spared the two-year-old daughter of My before leaving the scene.

Duong returned to the house the following day, feigning grief over the tragedy, but ended up being captured by police at the victims' funeral.

Investigators later arrested Tien and Thoai and indicted the three on October 9.