Man charged with assault

A man has been taken into police custody after stabbing an elderly priest at a Catholic church in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, local authorities reported on Friday.

The police of Gia Lai’s An Khe Town on Thursday night arrested Tran Trong Ca, a 30-year-old man, for assaulting a 70-year-old priest and setting fire to the An Khe Parish church, Nguyen Hung Vy, chairman of the town’s People’s Committee, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday morning.

The crime happened on Thursday noon, when Ca arrived at the church in a pickup truck.

He then used a machete and two knives, which he had brought along, to damage two cars in the church’s parking lot, breaking the glass of these vehicles.

Ca later came into the church and chased the 70-year-old priest Tran Van Truyen and 44-year-old Nguyen Van Tung, a vendor of drinks in the vicinity, who had run away when seeing him rushing to them.

The man caught up with the two victims after running for 50 meters and used a knife to stab both of them in the belly.

Immediately after the assault, Ca drove his vehicle to a nearby gas station to buy about 18 liters of gasoline contained in a can. He then returned to the church and set it on fire with the fuel.

As soon as receiving a report from the witnesses of Ca’s acts, the police of the town’s An Phu Ward rushed to the scene and joined locals in putting down the fire, which had singed the church door.

Locals took both the victims to the Binh Dinh General Hospital, over 90km away from Gia Lai, for emergency aid.

Meanwhile, Ca left the scene for home in his vehicle but the local police arrested him shortly.

Investigation into the case is ongoing.

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A Vietnamese teen girl was beaten by a gang of about 30 people organized by the girlfriend of the man who had raped her in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Pham Viet Hung, deputy head of the Department of Public Security of Cho Moi District in An Giang, said on Tuesday afternoon that the department had criminally detained Le Thanh Trung, a 19-year-old man in Tan My Commune in the same district, for the investigation into his act of “having sexual intercourse with people from 13 to under 16 years old.”

The detention came after H.T.H., living in Binh Phuoc Xuan Commune in the same district, had reported to local police that his daughter, M., had been sexually assaulted by Trung and assaulted by a gang organized by his girlfriend.

According to H., M., together with Ng. and D.A., visited Trung’s house on the evening of February 25.

M. then had drinks at Trung’s house with him and some other people.

It was until 11:00 pm on the same night that M. asked the drinking-buddies to take her home.

But the drinking-buddies all declined M.’s request and asked her to sleep over at Trung’s house.

M.’s decided to follow the sleepover suggestion as Trung pledged to let her sleep alone.

M. said that she could not properly close the door of the room she slept in as it had been broken.

In the early hours of the next day, Trung went to M.’s room while she was sleeping and raped her. She tried to resist him in vain.

After the rape, Trung took M. back to her home.

Trung then sent M. a text message with an apology and pledged to take responsibility for what he had done.

As for M., she kept the incident to herself.

Trung then told a person named Th. his sexual intercourse with M.. Th. went on to pass it to T., who was Trung’s girlfriend.

Out of jealousy, T. sent a threatening text message to M., demanding to meet her in person.

When M. arrived at the Muoi Than Canal to meet T. at about 5:00 pm on March 8, around 30 people used motorbikes to block M.’s way and prevent other people from entering the place.

T., with the support of two additional girls, physically and verbally attacked M., as well as took off M.’s clothes to humiliate her while another person filmed the entire process.

The gang then let M. go.

Frightened by the incident, M. took sleeping pills to commit suicide, which was promptly discovered by her family.

After receiving H.’s report, police in Cho Moi District sent M. to the medical facility for examination, as well as summoned the people involved in the case and witnesses.

According to police officers, Trung admitted his sexual assault.

“At first, we thought M. was under 13 years old, but after verification, we found out that she was over 13,” said Senior Lieutenant Colonel Pham Viet Hung, without stating M.’s exact age.

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Pham Van Dung, 46, is being investigated for murder and rape.

He had confessed to the murder at the police station, officers told the press Monday afternoon but have yet to announce whether he had also admitted to the sexual assault of the girl after autopsy results revealed she had been raped and strangled to death.

The suspect lives near the victim’s house in Long Tam Ward of Ba Ria Town.

Before the incident occurred Saturday night, Dung had attended a party in the neighborhood but had left early.

Finding the girl amiss, her family had rushed out to look for her, only to find her lying naked and motionless in a deserted plot around 300 meters from home.

Her family took the girl to a local hopsital, where she was found dead.

On Sunday, Dung and his wife visited the victim’s house to burn incense at her funeral.

An elder sister of the victim told police she had seen Dung enticing her younger sibling to accompany him using sweets on Saturday night, Phap Luat TPHCM reported.

In recent years, the sexual abuse of children has risen at an alarming rate in Vietnam.

Five children were raped or physically abused daily in Vietnam between 2015 and the first half of 2019, according to Ministry of Public Security.

Many cases of abuse occur in places considered safe such as homes and schools, with abusers typically known to victims, including fathers and teachers.

A patient at a mental hospital has been arrested for running a drug ring inside the institution in Hanoi.

Police officers under the municipal Department of Public Security confirmed on Wednesday they had broken up an illegal drug racket run by Nguyen Xuan Quy, 39, from Thanh Tri District.

According to officers, many of those implicated in the discovery of the drug ring had complicated criminal records.

Quy had a history of mental illness and was admitted to National Mental Hospital 1 in November 2018.

In early January, Quy was arrested for illegal possession of narcotics but was allowed to continue receiving treatment for his mental condition at the hospital.

He escaped from the hospital on January 7 before being captured by police officers shortly after.

The man established a good relationship with administrators at the hospital and was given more privileges than other patients.

Quy upgraded his room with soundproofing and equipped it with loudspeakers and laser lights, using the space to use drugs and party with friends, some hospital staff members, and prostitutes.

He later began operating a drug ring on the premises of the infirmary.

The entrance of National Mental Hospital 1 in Hanoi. Photo: Giang Long / Tuoi Tre

Buyers only needed to pretend to be patents’ family members or caretakers to enter the hospital before receiving the products from Quy’s subordinates.

Quy also hired two men to pose as cab and motorbike taxi drivers to keep watch at the entrance of the hospital.

They were in charge of delivering the drugs to other locations as well.

Aside from Quy, police arrested Nguyen Van Ngoc and Nguyen Trung Nguyen.

The three were charged for trading and storing narcotics, as well as organizing drug use.

Nguyen Anh Vu, a technician at National Mental Hospital 1, was taken into custody for failure to report a crime.

Vu tested positive for narcotics at the time of his arrest.

Officers have searched the suspects’ houses and confiscated 6.1 kilograms of synthetic drugs.

The Ministry of Health ordered a prompt investigation into the case and required the infirmary to make a report.

In a report submitted on Thursday morning, National Mental Hospital 1 stated it had ordered relevant units to verify the responsibility of the staff members involved in the scandal, as well as coordinating closely with police officers to assist in their investigation.

All departments have been directed to tighten their patient management protocols.

The hospital’s report did not explain why Quy was allowed to modify his room and operate his drug ring.

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A local man is operating a free-of-charge library in Hanoi, satisfying the reading needs of everybody and creating a convenient space for its visitors to communicate in English.

The library, situated on Kim Ma Street in Ba Dinh District, was launched in early 2020 by 40-year-old Nguyen Thanh Trung, who is also called Harry Trung Nguyen.

Trung founded an English training center right above the library and uses income from the English teaching to maintain his free facility, which he named Mia Bookhouse.

Nguyen Thanh Trung (right) introduces books to visitors at his free library in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi. Photo : Hien Huyen / Tuoi Tre

The library’s founder enthusiastically welcomes every visitor and assists them in choosing books to read.

Mia Bookhouse now has more than 1,000 English books and a small number of books in German that he has collected during his travel to more than 50 countries.

In addition, books in Vietnamese may also be found there.

“This library model has been cherished by my love for my little daughter Mia,” Trung said, adding that imbuing children with a habit of reading, especially in those under six, will help promote their development of language, creativity, and imagination.

With an aim to make it convenient for children, Trung designed his Mia Bookhouse uniquely, with box-shaped bookshelves and seats being the steps of the wooden staircase connecting the lower and upper parts of the library.

Young people read books at Mia Bookhouse, which offers free books in diverse fields, in Hanoi. Photo : Hien Huyen / Tuoi Tre

Trung went to Russia and Germany with his family during his childhood and he later visited many other countries.

His love for travel and his long working in the tourism sector have developed in him a habit of collecting English books from every country he visited.

“I especially love children and I pay special attention to learning foreign languages, so I want to create a space for everybody to naturally develop foreign language skills,” Trung shared.

The library is currently open every Saturday and Sunday morning.

It is staffed by teachers who can guide everybody in choice of books and can communicate in English with every visitor, creating a venue for everyone to use or practice their English skills.

Books for children here have been selected carefully to ensure they are attractive, interesting, and useful to them, Trung said, adding that he is directly involved in the selection.

English books for children are selected carefully to ensure they are attractive and useful to them. Photo : Hien Huyen / Tuoi Tre

Trung said he initially created this library to provide English books for children, but he later thought it may be extended to people of different ages.

He has therefore added to Mia Bookhouse a lot of books in various fields, such as literature, history, science, economics, and nature, to satisfy the diverse demands of every book enthusiasts.

The man has also collected many famous works that are hard to buy as they were published in limited quantities.

Trung has recently set up his second free library in the capital, on Nguy Nhu Kon Tum Street in Thanh Xuan District.

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Nguyen Quoc Lam, 38, is being investigated under charges of “rape of a person aged under 16”, said Pham That, deputy director of the Binh Thuan police department.

Lam’s housekeeper often worked for his family in the central province’s Lien Huong Town. As the housekeeper and her daughter are homeless, the daughter often slept at Lam’s while her mother slept on the street.

On April 17, as the housekeeper entered the house to start work, she heard her daughter’s cries. Rushing to her aid, she said, she saw Lam raping the girl, and so decided to inform the police. Lam ran away immediately after.

Police eventually managed to track him down at a relative’s house in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District, where he was arrested.

Such an instance of rape could be punishable by death in Vietnam.