A high school teacher in Ho Chi Minh City has been handed the death penalty for murdering his lover, who was also his colleague, after she had abruptly canceled their planned wedding last year.

Vo Minh Thang, a 27-year-old resident in District 11, stood his second trial at the Superior People’s Court in the southern metropolis on Wednesday.

Thang was charged with murder after killing his wife-to-be Nguyen Thi Tuyet, 27, who resided in Binh Thanh District.

He was previously sentenced to life in prison at his first-instance trial by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court in March.

But the municipal People’s Procuracy and the victim’s family appealed the verdict and demanded a harsher penalty.

The case was then transferred to the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City.

At Wednesday’s court, the higher-level judge agreed to raise his penalty to capital punishment, given the severity of the offense.

According to the indictment, Thang and Tuyet were teachers at Vo Thi Sau High School in Binh Thanh District.

They were in a romantic relationship and were about to tie the knot last year.

Tuyet, however, canceled the planned wedding in March 2018. Thang repeatedly tried to contact her to work things out but eventually ended up in vain.

On the morning of April 23, 2018, they met at the school and had an argument.

As Tuyet headed home on her motorcycle, Thang followed and forcefully pulled her over along Truong Sa Street in Binh Thanh.

The two had got into another quarrel before Thang took out a knife from his motorbike trunk and stabbed her multiple times. The victim was killed on the spot.

Thang intended to commit suicide but he changed his mind and turned himself in to police.

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