After several days of investigation, police in Go Vap District, HCMC have arrested a man for slashing local young women, mostly students, on their thighs using a razor blade.

The Social Order Investigation police team in Go Vap said they have detained Huynh Quang Nhu, 27, a resident of District 12, who committed five slashing incidents from March 29 to April 3. District police had earlier received reports from police in wards 6 and 17 about cases in which young women were slashed by a young man using a sharp and pointed object when they were traveling on streets such as Nguyen Oanh, Le Hoang Phai, and Le Duc Tho. The first case occurred on Nguyen Oanh Street at 7:30 pm on March 29 when P.N.T.V, a high school student, was slashed by a young man who walked opposite to her on the road. After slashing the schoolgirl, the man ran away and the victim went to the Ward 6 police station to report the crime. Several days later, at 6:40 pm on April 1, N.T.H.A, 21, had the same experience, when she was slashed while walking near An Nhon Church in Ward 17. Two days later, at 12:15 pm, another young woman was riding a bicycle on Le Hoang Phai Street when she was slashed, again by a young man with a razor. At 2:03 the same day, M.K.N, a 12-year-old student reported to police that she had been attacked by a man with a sharp object. After analyzing the reports from these victims, police came to the conclusion that all of the slashings were caused by a single culprit. Police then launched an investigation and strengthened their patrols on streets. At 7 pm on April 5, when a patrol team was in Ward 17, they heard cries from a young woman, P.T.Q.N, 18, and then found a man running away. They ran after the man, who still had a razor blade on his hand, and seized him. After being arrested, the young man [Nhu] told police that he had fallen into a depression after his parents got divorced and he had committed such acts as a way to “take revenge on life.”     Similar slashing cases happened in late 2011 in southern Tay Ninh province, and four culprits were arrested and later charged with assault and humiliating others.

According to the indictment, Nguyen Thanh Tai, 28, Pham Thanh Duy, also 28, Vo Le Hoang Ngu, 29, and Phan Ca Li, 17, were charged with 17 slashing cases in the southern province. At a trial in October 2012, the provincial People’s Court sentenced Tai, the mastermind of the slashing, to ten years in jail, while Duy received six years, Ngu got four and a half years, and Li received 15 months in prison. Tai was ordered by the court to pay US$3,400 in damages to the victims.