A man from the northern Vietnamese province of Hai Duong has been sentenced to death for murdering his creditor before burning the victim’s body to conceal his crime.

The provincial People’s Court conducted the trial of Cao Tai Nang, 40, and his wife, 38-year-old Vu Thi Mung, on Thursday.

Nang was given capital punishment for murder, a life sentence for robbery, and four years in jail for infringing upon the body of a deceased person.

Mung was sentenced to six years and six months behind bars for concealing a crime and infringing upon the body of a deceased person.

The indictment showed that Nang and Mung leased a house on Nguyen Thuong Man Street in Hai Duong City, the capital of the namesake province, to run a drugstore.

To finance their business, the married couple borrowed more than VND7 billion (US$308,700) from 47-year-old Duong Cong Cuong.

The two later paid Cuong over VND4 billion ($176,400) and asked him if they could postpone the payment of the remaining VND3 billion ($132,300).

The Cuong did not agree, stressing that Nang and Mung had to fulfill their payment by November 28, 2020.

On this date, Nang asked Cuong to come to his drugstore, where he murdered his creditor with a wooden baton.

Nang then drove Cuong’s car to Hanoi and abandoned it along a street in Hoang Mai District, before catching a cab back to Hai Duong.

After knowing about the incident, Mung advised her husband to turn himself in, but he did not agree and insisted that he would rather commit suicide.

Nang persuaded Mung to help him bury Cuong’s body by a local river.

As the couple feared that their sin would be discovered, they decided to dig up the body, before using 6.5 liters of gasoline to burn the corpse on February 8.

Nang turned himself in on July 1, after police officers announced they had found the victim’s car.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!