The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court has awarded a death sentence to a young man who killed a university student and injured three others while he was trying to escape after snatching a laptop from the student  last September.  

>> Laptop snatcher kills victim, injures policeman>> Woman’s arm chopped off by thieves>> Robbers slash man’s arm for $30 Chinese phone The 24-year-old killer, Cao Trung Lap, was sentenced to death in a trial at a public site in Tan Binh District on Thursday after the court rejected his imploration for a commutation. According to the indictment, Lap was arrested on September 17, 2012 after he killed 22-year-old Hoang Ngoc Tri and injured police captain Vo Sy Hoang, from the Tan Phu District Police.

On the morning that day, Tri, with a laptop bag on his shoulder, was driving his girlfriend on a motorbike on Hoang Hoa Tham street in Tan Binh District when Lap came up from behind on a motorbike, snatched the bag from Tri, and sped up to flee. Tri chased after Lap and ran his bike into Lap’s, and both bikes crashed to the ground. They wrestled and Lap pulled out a knife and stabbed Tri in the chest and belly before running away. Captain Hoang, who was traveling on the street, ran after the robber and caught up with him later, but Lap also stabbed Hoang and escaped. He later stabbed two other people who blocked his way before some local residents seized him. Tri was taken to the hospital but he died soon later due to severe injuries to his heart. At yesterday’s trial, Lap told the court that he had not deliberately killed Tri and that he just wanted to make Tri injured so that Tri could not prevent him from escaping. “I would like to send my sincere apologies toTri’s family and hopes that the court will give me a lighter sentence,” the convicted killer said.  The jury, however, rejected Tri’s imploration, saying that he had committed an unforgivable crime and deserved a death sentence.

No compensation is enough

Tri’s life was taken life by Lap while he was on the way to find a job after graduating from the Ho Chi Minh CIty University of Culture, Tri’s parents told the court. When asked by the jury about how much money the victim’s family wanted to be paid by the killer as compensation for mental damage, Tri’s father said, “My son is an invaluable asset to me as well as to my family, but he now died.  How much can the killer compensate us for such a great loss?”

"Despite how much the killer can pay, his compensation will never be enough to make up for the death of my son," Tri's father said.