A Vietnamese court has handed down capital punishment to a Chinese man who killed his fellow countrywoman, cut her body into pieces, and dumped them into a river in the central city of Da Nang last year.

The Da Nang People’s Court on Wednesday gave the death penalty to 28-year-old Xiao Guiping, a Chinese national, who committed the murder in February 2020.

The victim was Bao Danping, a 31-year-old female Chinese employee of a casino in the city, where Xiao often gambled before killing her.

At the court, Xiao admitted to his crime and explained that he murdered the woman due to a dispute over gambling money.

According to the indictment, Xiao and his Chinese girlfriend Qin Li traveled to Da Nang in late December 2019 and they stayed in Ngu Hanh Son District.

Through Qin, Xiao got to know Bao and the two agreed to pool money together to gamble at the casino on the rule of equal sharing of gains or losses.

On January 26, 2020, Bao gave Xiao US$45,000 for gambling before he won $34,000.

The man repaid her the amount she had given him and suggested sharing the winning money equally between them, but she asked him to continue keeping her share ($17,000) for the next gambling round.

On February 4, 2020, he used the $34,000 to gamble and lost it all. He informed Bao about the gambling loss.

One day later, she gave him $11,000 for gambling and the gambler lost the entire amount again before notifying her of his failure.

On February 6, Bao met Xiao and compelled him to repay her a total of $28,000.

She threatened that if he failed to return the money, she would ask her brother-in-law to beat him.

In a fit of anger and fear, Xiao strangled Bao to death with a rope.

He went on to cut her body into pieces, packed them in plastic bags and suitcases, carried them to the Tien Son Bridge, and threw them into the Han River.

The killer was arrested one day later.

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