The southern Kien Giang Province People’s Court has sentenced a man to death for stabbing a woman and her two children when he was carrying out a robbery in the victims’ house in Phu Quoc District last year. The stabbing caused severe injuries to the victims and one of them, a 9-year-old boy, died later. The convicted was Le Thanh Nam, 49, a resident of the district’s Ganh Hau Commune, and his victims included 32-year-old Nguyen Thi Phi and her two sons, Nguyen Tri Cuong , 9 and Nguyen Tri Dai, 6.

These victims were attacked by Nam when they were sleeping in their house in the same commune at 2 am on September 25, 2012. After breaking in the house, Nam covered Phi with a blanket and then stabbed ans slashed her many times with a knife. Phi’s two sons who were awaken up by her crying shouted loudly for help. Nam then used a wooden stick struck the boys on their heads, causing both to pass out. Nam escaped with more than four taels (about 4.8 ounces) of gold he had taken from the house. The victims were brought by locals to the Phu Quoc General Hospital but Cuong died on the way. The police launched an investigation and seized Nam later on charges of murder and robbery. At his trial yesterday, the court said he deserved to be sentenced to death because he had committed a cruel crime.