A series of murder and torture cases have recently occurred in which the culprit and victim are lovers.

Some victims are lucky to keep their lives but must endure mental or physical torture from their lovers.

Jealousy or selfishness in such love affairs may surpass any imagination, but it is totally true.

Miserable to love and to be loved

Last weekend, a shocking murder case occurred in the central city of Da Nang when a single girl named Y., 24, was burned to death by a man who had fallen in love with her. The man's name is Thanh.

After graduating from college, Y. came to work in the local bar Dong Thoi Gian Saigon (The Course of Saigon Time) on Le Dinh Duong Street as her second job to earn extra income and met Thanh, who was a regular client there.

After meeting each other in the bar, Thanh fell in love with Y. and declared his love to Y.

At that time, Y. told him that she had a boyfriend and so refused Thanh.

Despite being rejected, Thanh kept on frequenting the bar to meet Y., who insisted that he stop seeking her out. Y. even showed him images of her and her boyfriend, an employee of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in the city.

“Y. is good looking and so was pursued by many men,” said Phan Hai Linh, her uncle.

“She fell in love with her boyfriend for many years and both families agreed to organize their wedding party by the end of this year.

“Who can imagine such a cruel thing?” he said.

On April 20, Thanh came to the bar and phoned Y., asking her to go out to the gate because he had something to say. Y. asked her two female friends to go out with her. After a while, the friends recognized it was a private conversation and went back inside the bar.

Then Thanh poured a paint tank full of petrol onto her body and struck a light.

Witnesses said Y's body looked like a living torch.

Police identified the culprit as Nguyen Phuoc Thanh, 39, residing in Nam Duong Ward in Hai Chau District. He worked as a painter in a local garage.

According to police, Thanh declared that he was angry after being rejected in love and took revenge.

On April 13 in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, a woman named Thuy Hang, 24, was stabbed to death by her boyfriend Dang Van Khuyen, 28, after she broke off their six-year relationship.

Hang was killed soon after leaving a local police station to report that Khuyen had beaten her and posted sensitive images on the Internet.

After killing Hang, Khuyen fled the scene and logged into his Facebook account to recall the case before surrendering to police.

Dang Van Khuyen, 28, in a detention center of Binh Thanh District Police in Ho Chi Minh City, after killing his girlfriend (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

In another case, a 19-year-old woman named Th. residing in Ky Van Commune, Ky Anh District in central Ha Tinh province was kidnapped, tortured, and had her eyebrows shaved  and her hair cut by some women working for Mai Linh Taxi in the province on April 17.

Th. was believed to be in a relationship with a man who is the boyfriend of one of the taxi women.

Also for the sake of love, a man named Le Dien Hai, 33, in northern Phu Tho province chose to protect their love by killing his pregnant girlfriend.

Jealousy

It is common to say love is blind but it is uncommon to force loved ones to live in misery or face losing their lives.

For the sake of ‘great love,’ some lovers tortured their partners mentally and even invaded their privacy. They were willing to check the mobile phones, email accounts, and Facebook accounts of their partners.

Others seek ways to possess their lovers with dirty tricks, including recording sensitive images and threatening to kill or attack them with acid to discourage them from cutting off relations.