The female owner of a local clothing shop in Vietnam’s Thanh Hoa Province has been prosecuted while her husband has been arrested as they respectively humiliated and appropriated the property of a customer, who had stolen items from their store.

Police in Thanh Hoa City, the capital of the namesake north-central province, on Saturday started legal proceeding against Cao Thi Mai Huong, the 29-year-old owner of the local Mai Huong clothing shop, for “humiliating others” and “property appropriation.”

Huong’s 31-year-old husband, Trinh Dinh Anh, has also been held in custody for “property appropriation.”

Thanh Hoa City police officers launched an investigation and summoned Huong, Anh, and some of their shop employees shortly after detecting a two-minute-long video circulated virally on Facebook, in which a group of people used force and showed signs of humiliation against a girl.

At the police station, these people confessed to creating a post on Facebook on November 25 as a way to lure shoplifters who had stolen some fashion items from their store.

This supplied photo shows Cao Thi Mai Huong, the 29-year-old owner of the local Mai Huong clothing shop in Thanh Hoa City, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam.

After reading the post, T.M. and L.T.H., both 17 and living in Thanh Hoa’s Sam Son City, contacted Huong via phone calls to apologize for stealing clothes at Huong’s shop on November 18.

M. and H. then traveled on a motorbike to Mai Huong shop to meet Huong at around 9:00 am on November 26 as per the female owner’s request.

While H. stayed outside the store, M. went inside and faced Huong, her 54-year-old mother-in-law, Duong Thi Lan, and a number of the shop employees.

After asking the employees to film the situation with a smartphone, Huong requested M. to take off her helmet and face mask to show her face in the footage.

As M. refused to follow that request, the female shop owner slapped M. in the face and kicked the teen girl’s head with her foot.

Then, Lan grabbed M.’s hair while Huong pulled the girl’s shirt and cut both her hair and bra straps with a pair of scissors.

A screenshot of the footage showing T.M. being attacked at Mai Huong clothing shop in Thanh Hoa City, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam.

At that time, Anh arrived at the shop and took M. to the second floor, where he requested the girl to give him VND15 million (US$657) within three days, or else, he would report the case to police.

M. continuously sent apology messages to Huong and Anh in the following days while the couple kept threatening to report the girl to functional forces and her school management board.

This supplied photo shows Trinh Dinh Anh, husband of Cao Thi Mai Huong, the 29-year-old owner of the local Mai Huong clothing shop in Thanh Hoa City, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam.

H.’s family came to the store and gave the couple VND10 million ($438) on November 30 while M.’s family failed to do the same.

Huong thus asked M.’s family to write a letter to confirm a VND10 million debt lent by the woman.

Local police searched Mai Huong fashion store and seized many related exhibits during their investigation into the case, which is undergoing to clarify the criminal acts of the related individuals.

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