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After nine years on death row, acquittal

After nine years on death row, acquittal

Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 12:00 GMT+7

The Thai suspect in a savage murder case in Ho Chi Minh City several years ago was supposed to receive the death sentence, however he was finally acquitted after being held in custody for nine years.

Thai citizen Denchai Nutiphanich was sentenced to death by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court for murder, however proceeding agencies finally had to suspend the investigation as they did not have enough legal proof of his guilt.

Lawyer Le Hong Nguyen recalled that in mid-2003 he was invited by the wife of Denchai, a Thai businessman living in Vietnam, to defend her husband.

Denchai was the main suspect in a gruesome murder in which the victim’s body was cut into many parts and placed in four plastic bags.

The crime in question occurred in a room at the Quyen Thanh Hotel in District 1 in June of 2000. When Nguyen received the case, the trial court had already sentenced Denchai to death.

According to the verdict, Denchai killed Ngu Luong, a jewelry shop owner in District 5, because of a disagreement over money bet on the Euro 2000 football tournament.

Nguyen said that as son as he read the case’s documents, he felt something was wrong.

On June 27, 2000 Ngu Luong told his wife that he was going out to collect football betting money he had won from Denchai and would be home to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. However, Luong never returned.

Three days later, the police were informed that the Quyen Thanh Hotel staff had found a body which had been cut into many parts and stored in four plastic bags under a bed in room 301. The room was booked for Denchai on June 26.

The verdict concluded that Denchai had taken Luong to the room and killed him.

Nguyen said that several pieces of evidence pointed to Denchai as the murderer. For instance, Denchai had rented the room, he was involved in money relations with Luong, and a blood stain found on the Denchai’s red backpack was of the victim.

Several witnesses added that Denchai had asked them how long it would take police to find a missing person, and he had asked someone to buy a kilogram of black plastic bags for him.

Based on the above details, the court concluded that Denchai had killed Luong in order to avoid repaying his debt.

Meanwhile, Denchai claimed innocence, saying that Luong owed money from football bets to a group of Thais that he had not payed. They thus asked Denchai to take Luong to the hotel in order to meet them and settle the matter.

The amount in question added up to VND441 million (US$21,000), and Denchai took Ngu to the hotel room to meet his countrymen.

Denchai said that he did not know who killed Luong or how he was murdered.

“The most important piece evidence that the court used to accuse Denchai was the victim’s blood stain, found on his red backpack. I thought that if Denchai had used the backpack to destroy evidence, he would never have brought it home,” said Nguyen, the lawyer.

Nguyen believed Denchai’s claim that he had forgotten his backpack in the room after taking Luong to the hotel, and that a person from the Thai group had given it back to him later.

As the hotel had numerous hallways, the staff could not see the Thais enter Denchai’s room to meet Luong.

Moreover, Nguyen said the plastic bags were tied with sticking-plaster which had many strange fingerprints on it.

The fingerprints were not Denchai’s, but matched those on Luong’s cell phone, which was found afterwards.

According to the lawyer, proceeding agencies could not determine how Denchai killed the victim, and which kind of murder weapon was used.

As a result, the appeal court of the HCMC Supreme People’s Court reconsidered these details and canceled the death sentence to reinvestigate the case.

After two further investigations, the city People’s Court demanded that related agencies determine who the members of the Thai group were. However, this task was never accomplished.

In June 2009, Denchai was released after being held in custody for nine years, and investigation into the case was suspended.

Nguyen said that he was so sorry and suffered pressure from the victim’s family. However, the proceeding agencies did not have sufficient legal proof to definitively accuse the suspect.

Several years have since passed, but the Denchai case still elicits several different points of view from involved agencies.

Some prosecutors who hold the view that Denchai is guilty said that based on evidence in the case’s documents, they believed Denchai was the culprit.

However, the Investigation Police Agency in HCMC suspended the case since, “The investigation time limit was over but the accused was not proved guilty.”

A senior prosecutor said that it is the responsibility of proceeding agencies to the victim’s family for failing to unmask the murderer.

Tuoi Tre

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