Hanoi court jails 2 overseas Vietnamese for robbery
The duo, by accident, found an elusive debtor on a Hanoi street after nearly a decade. They attacked him.
A court in Hanoi on December 28 sentenced two overseas Vietnamese to jail for assaulting and robbing a man last year.
Nguyen Thi Van, 45, a Canadian citizen, and Nguyen Cong Thanh, 42, from the U.S., received 14 and 16 months respectively.
The court heard that in 2007, Van lent Nguyen Quang Thai, another Canadian Vietnamese, about VND2.5 billion (US$109,000) but she could never contact him to get the money back.
During their trip to Vietnam in October last year, Van and Thanh found the debtor by accident in the Old Quarter. They tried to catch him and were accused of assaulting him.
The duo also allegedly robbed him of VND10 million (US$434) worth of cash and then held him captive, until the man's relatives paid them US$2,000.
The court on Wednesday found them guilty of assault and robbery.