Vietnam - Massacre at goldsmith’s shop “awakes” cruelty?

VietNamNet Bridge – It is said that Le Van Luyen’s sin has awaken the cruelty in many people who have been followed this nation-shaking case.

Early in the morning on August 24, Trinh Van Ngoc, the 37-year-old owner of Ngoc Bich Jewelry Shop, his wife Dinh Thi Chin, 35, and daughter Trinh Phuong Thao, 9 months old, were found killed. Another daughter, nine-year-old Trinh Ngoc Bich, had her right arm chopped off by the attackers.

Several hours after the murder, the local health center informed the police that a young man had been brought by another for stitching up wounds on his hands.

The police later identified the injured man as Le Van Luyen, 18, of Thanh Lam Commune, Luc Nam District, and his companion as Hong, who was arrested later.

They found a sword and about 50 taels of gold (1 tael = 1.2 ounce) bullion, 12 gold chains, 199 gold rings, 59 necklaces, and five precious stones worth $135,000 hidden underground behind a pigsty in the house.

The police are further investigating the striking murder, which was conducted by a minor like Le Van Luyen, who, according to his birth certificate, was born on October 18, 1993.

After a week of hiding, Luyen was arrested by the Na Hinh Border Guard Station in Lang Son Province on August 31, and was escorted to Bac Giang Province in the midnight for questioning.

He told the police that he had acted alone in the killing and later threw two knives he used in his crime into a pool belonging to a neighbor of Luyen’s family, in Thanh Lam Commune, Luc Nam District. The police dried up the pool and found the knives.

Meanwhile the survived girl has claimed that she saw two men whose hair were dyed red and blue, broke into her house and killed her family members at the time of the murder. Later she said she could have been mistaken in the dark.

Forensic experts have found blood samples of Luyen at the horrific gold shop murder scene in Bac Giang, the police said. DNA testing confirmed there was only one other blood sample apart those of the four victims, and it belonged to Luyen.

Investigators had initially suspected the involvement of more than one person after finding two different footprints at the scene. But Luyen clarified that after breaking into the shop he had left his slippers on the third floor and went around barefoot, he said. The police were yet to find any clues showing another person had been involved in the crimes.

According to investigators, Luyen’s testimony matched the report from the crime scene and the evidence collected. There were wounds on his face and hands caused by grappling with the murdered man and his wife.

Luyen confessed to committing the crime to get money for his expenses, including playing online games. He said he was very fond of online games like World of JX, a violent game. He intended to spend a part of the stolen money, estimated at over US$100,000, on repaying debts and playing his favorite game and give the rest to his parents.

Luyen told the investigators that the killings haunted him badly and it seemed that he had acted under “the orders of the Devil.” Every night at the detention center in Bac Giang, he had nightmares in which he saw the victims, especially the little girl, Trinh Bich Ngoc, 18 months old, whose throat he slit.

Luyen will get a lawyer appointed by the court since he has yet to hire one, the local police chief said. The 18-year old has not asked for a lawyer but under Vietnamese law, it is mandatory for minor defendants to have a lawyer.

On August 29, the police arrested local Truong Thanh Hong, 19, for failing to report to them about a suspect in the killing, Le Van Mien, 42, and Truong Thi Thom, 38, Le Van Luyen’s parents, were arrested for “hiding a criminal,” while Truong Van Hop, 47, the father of Truong Thanh Hong, 19, was taken in for “not reporting a crime.”

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien recently visited Bich, the only survivor in her family, at the Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital in Hanoi. Bich’s severed right arm has been reconnected by doctors.

Only four percent of killers born in normal families: report

Teenage murder Le Van Luyen has become the hottest topic on online forums. Almost the entire online community says that “death must be paid by death” and Luyen must die.

On Facebook, groups of people who want to impose death penalty on Luyen have been set up and attracted thousands of members in several days. These groups are named “The society of people who want to kill Le Van Luyen”, “The society of people who go mad with Le Van Luyen”, Must sentence Luyen to death”, or “One millions of signatures for the death of Le Van Luyen”.

On these pages, thousands of people criticized, condemned and cursed Luyen, who killed a couple who ran a goldsmith’s store in Bac Giang province, their 9-month-old daughter and cut off the hand of their 9-year-old daughter.

Before going to court, Luyen has been sentenced to death by the public opinion.

When some local newspapers reported that Luyen was born on October 18, 1993, and by the day he committed crime (August 24, 2011), Luyen was not fully 18 years old and he may escape the death penalty, many people have expressed their astonishment and disappointment. They argued that with his sin, Luyen must be sentenced to death, not only 18 years in jail.

A reader named Do Quang Thanh commented on an online newspaper: “His sin is heinous that god can’t forgive, but he is only sentenced 18 years in jail?”

Many people “create” awful penalties to make the murder to die in utmost pain. One suggested binding Luyen to a pole for people to stone him to death. Others said that forms of death penalty in the Middle Age should be applied to Luyen to deter seeds of sin in the society.

Tran Hieu wrote on Facebook: “18 years in jail is okay but he must not be pardoned in any case. In his detention room must have portraits of his victims so the murder will never dodge from torment”.

A reader of Vietnam Education Newspaper wrote: “Let’s convict this beast with a verdict that is suitable to natural law and never give him any favor. He must be isolated completely from the society. If he dies in jail, his headstone must tell people that he is a beast under the cover of human being”.

Another reader commented on Laborer Newspaper: “If this man is killed 1,000 times, it is not enough to expiate his sin”.

When some people argued that the public opinion was too cruel to “beat” the man who is at a dead end like Luyen, many others replied: “You say that Luyen must be judged by the law but if the victims were your relatives, you would have called out to sentence Luyen to death”.

Many people suggested adding an open article in the Penal Code, under which the common law will not be applied to such cruel murders like Luyen.

Not only Luyen but his family has been “stoned” these days. Many people believe that Luyen must die gradually to feel the utmost pain to expiate his crime and to make his parents to feel the pain like the family of victims has to suffer.

Besides sharing the pain with the victims’ family, some readers voiced that Luyen must be treated like a human being. “His sin is unforgiving but let’s the law judges him. Vietnamese’s tradition is tolerant. Are you only satisfied if he is sentenced to death?”

Some people said that through Luyen case, parents should review their education method over their children to avoid similar tragedies, instead of seeking way to kill the murder to satisfy the public psychology.

One wrote on Facebook: “Inventing ways to kill Luyen with horror is very cruel. Victims were dead already. Would they be able to relive if we force Luyen and his family to die too?”

The opinion of a member named Dinh Quang Huy of a big forum makes people to contemplate: “Luyen’s biggest sin is not killing three people and destroying two families, but making millions of people to become cruel. The wish to chop up, stab and kill a creature physiologically with any reason, when the law doesn’t allow, is letting the animal nature infringe the human nature”.

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