A Vietnam court has sentenced a woman to two years in prison for stealing assets including a luxury wristwatch, a cellphone, and cash from a foreign man after having sex with him in August last year, local media said.
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Tran Thi Thuy Trang, 35, a sex worker in Ho Chi Minh City, received the sentence on charges of stealing property at her trial opened by the municipal People’s Court on Thursday.
According to the indictment, Trang often sought potential foreign customers at bars and restaurants in an area covering such streets as Bui Vien, Pham Ngu Lao, and De Tham in Pham Ngu Lao Ward in District 1.
Local residents usually call this area the “Westerner’s zone” or “backpacker area” as it has long been home to a community of foreigners who visit the city.
At 3:00 am on August 1, 2014, Robert John S., a 72-year-old man of Papua New Guinea nationality, was drinking beer at a bar on Bui Vien Street when he met Trang.
The man then asked Trang if she would agree to spend a night with him at his home in District 2 for VND2 million (US$93), and she consented.
When the two arrived at S.’s house, he handed the cash to her before they began to have sex.
S. fell asleep after sex and Trang then stole a Rolex wristwatch – which was valued at VND180 million ($8,370) – a cellphone, and VND11.5 million ($535) in cash.
Trang left the house and the man discovered the theft when he woke up the next morning, but he did not report the case to police.
She then pawned the watch for VND50 million ($2,330). She gave her mother VND39 million ($1,815) for debt repayment.
The woman spent the remaining money on personal needs.
Several days later, S. met Trang again in the “backpacker area” and asked her to return the items she had stolen from him.
Trang promised the foreigner that she would return them and gave him an indentify card that shows her photo but is in another person’s name.
She, however, broke her promise and S. reported it to police, who then began to search for the woman.
On August 16, police arrested Trang while she was drinking at a bar on Bui Vien Street, according to Ha Noi Moi (New Hanoi) newspaper.
On searching her, police found and seized many fake ID cards. Trang later admitted to stealing assets from the foreigner.
At the court yesterday, Trang told the jury that she committed the theft to get money to pay for her mother’s debts.
Considering that it was her first time committing such an offense and she had shown sincerity in making statements on her crime, the court’s jury decided to give her the above sentence.
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