The Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday upheld the death penalty for a young man who chopped off the lower part of a woman’s arm to steal her Honda SH scooter in late 2012.

The youth, 21-year-old Ho Duy Truc, was sentenced to death by the HCMC People’s Court in December 2013 on charges of plundering property.

Seven accomplices of Truc got jail terms lasting from 6 months to 20 years.

According to the indictment, Truc was the leader of an 8-member gang that committed 15 robberies in HCMC, using machetes to rob people of their vehicles and belongings, within the latter half of 2012.

Truc and his three accessories were arrested on November 24, 2012 after they attempted to rob 30-year-old Nguyen Thi Thuy of her Honda SH scooter when she was driving over the Phu My Bridge in HCMC’s District 2.

Truc used a machete to slash Thuy's right elbow twice, leaving the woman seriously wounded, with two parts of her arm clinging together thanks to a piece of skin.

As Thuy screamed for help, passers-by rushed in, making Truc and his accomplices flee the scene and leave her vehicle behind.

After being sentenced to death for such “dangerous and inhumane acts,” as stated by the jury at the first instance trial, Truc made an appeal for a slighter sentence.

At yesterday’s appeal hearing, Truc begged the jury to give him a commutation but the Supreme People’s Court rejected his plea, saying that he had perpetrated an extreme brutal act and therefore should be given the capital punishment.

Truc’s victim, Thuy, was not present at the trial but she had sent a petition to the court, asking for his commutation, but the judge also turned it down.