Hanoi man jailed for 5 years in leg-amputation incident

Nguyen Huy Hoang, 23, was sentenced to five years in jail for “Deliberate infliction of bodily harm upon another person” by the Hanoi People’s Court on Tuesday.

On July 13, 2022, Hoang was asked to escort an acquaintance Vu Ta Dang to Thuong Tin District to “resolve matters” with a man called Viet.

After changing their motorbike license plate and obtaining a knife, Hoang drove Dang to Viet’s house. They waited outside but no one showed up, so they returned home.

At 4 p.m. on July 15, Hoang drove Dang back to the house to find Viet. As they passed the house, they saw Viet walking on the street and turned towards him.

When they got close to him, Hoang stopped the bike for Dang to get off and hack off Viet’s leg with a knife.

Hoang was arrested on August 24 while Dang got away.

At the court, Hoang said he did not personally know Viet, and only did what he did because Dang asked him to and was not aware of his plans.

Viet told police the incident was caused by a VND500 million ($21,310) loan he took from a person back in 2018. Viet said he already returned the money, but there was no receipt.

On June 29, 2022, a group of debt collectors came to Viet’s house but he did not open the door. He said he then received a text message saying he might “lose a leg one day.”

Authorities said that there is not enough evidence to show the case is related to the loan.

Police will investigate further once Dang is caught.