Death row inmate escapes from Chi Hoa prison, residents who shelter him don't know

Defendant An in court on the morning of November 24 - Photo: D.T

On November 24, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced defendant Nguyen Kim An (26 years old, from Binh Thuan) to 2 years and 6 months in prison for escaping from prison. Combined with previous sentences for murder and robbery, the defendant received the death penalty.

According to the case, An was sentenced to death for murder and robbery, and was detained in cell 22, area AB, Chi Hoa detention camp.

At around 3:00 p.m. on July 13, 2021, the AB area duty team of 4 officers distributed rice and pumped water for the prisoners in the afternoon.

Taking advantage of the moment when an officer opened the cell door, turned around and brought food to another cell, An pulled his feet out of the shackles, left the cell and walked behind the officer to an empty room (used as a storage room for shackles and belongings) and hid there.

The defendant put on his belongings and stayed in the room until he no longer heard the officers' voices. Then he went out and followed the stairs down to the ground floor. At this time, seeing a crowd of people, the defendant went back up and hid in another warehouse.

At around 8:30 p.m. the same day, An came out of his hiding place and went to gate 2 of the camp. There, the officer on duty asked An where he was going, and An asked to go out. Taking advantage of the opening of the gate, An sneaked out.

Escaping from the camp, An went through many places, until the next evening he went to the house of a fellow prisoner's brother in Tan Phu district to ask for a place to stay for one night (An remembered the address written on the belongings), the owner gave him 500,000 VND and then chased him away. However, because An begged, he was allowed to stay the night, and the next morning he was chased away again.

After that, An met Mr. NXT (a motorbike taxi driver) and asked him to take him back to his old boarding house. On the way, An asked to stay at Mr. T's house for the night and he agreed and took him back to his house in Hiep Binh Phuoc ward, Thu Duc city. Here, after eating a package of noodles cooked by Mr. T, An left Mr. T's house to meet a friend and was arrested by the police.

The investigation determined that the people who gave An money and shelter did not know that An had escaped from prison, so they were not prosecuted. As for the four police officers on duty who were negligent in allowing An to escape, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency will review and handle the case later.

Death penalty for murder and robbery

According to records, in 2014, Nguyen Kim An committed the crime of "murder and robbery" in the city.Ho Chi Minhand was later sentenced to death in 2015.

Specifically, An and Lu Vinh Dat (living in District 6) are classmates at a school in the city.Ho Chi Minh. Because he needed money to spend, An came up with the idea of ​​giving Dat sleeping pills to take his property. On February 24, 2014, An bought 10 sedative pills and put them in Dat's coffee the next day, but the pills weren't strong enough so An didn't carry out his plan.

Then, on February 26, 2014, An went to buy 5 more Noctamide pills (a nerve inhibitor), texted Dat to come to his rented room (Tan Binh district) and mixed 6 Noctamide pills into a bottle of green tea for Dat to drink.

A moment later, Dat struggled and convulsed. An used his hands to hold him and choke him until he lay still. Thinking that Dat was dead, An used nylon rope to tie his legs, covered him with two sacks, carried him out of the motel, put him on Dat's motorbike, drove him to Phu My bridge (District 7) and threw Dat into the Saigon River.

An then took Dat's motorbike to an address in Tan Binh district. One day later (February 27, 2014), An used Dat's iPhone to call Dat's mother to inform her that Dat had been kidnapped, demanding a ransom of 500 million VND and not to report to the police.

On March 1, 2014, An threw Dat's phone into the canal and used another phone number to impersonate Dat, texting Dat's mother saying that Dat had gone far away and would not return home.

On March 4, 2014, Dat's body was discovered by people at Tan Thuan port (District 7).

The forensic examination concluded that Dat died of drowning, with black mud in his lungs and stomach. On March 11, 2014, the investigation agency arrested An.

According to Tuoi Tre