Danh Son (photo: Viet Nam News)

VIETNAM: DOCTOR GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR DISMEMBERING MISTRESS

March 27, 2025:

A 37-year-old married doctor who murdered and dismembered his mistress was sentenced to death by the People’s Court in Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam on March 18, 2025.
The murder convict, identified as Danh Son, a resident of Vinh Cuu District, got the death penalty for the crime of murder, four years in prison for asset appropriation, and a two-year jail term for illegal possession and transportation of military weapons. 
The total sentence was the death penalty.
The court found that he had committed a brutal murder with a cowardly motive. 
In addition to killing the victim, the defendant also committed misappropriation of assets, so the court determined that he had to be removed from society.
Since the family of the victim did not request or receive compensation, the defendant was not entitled to any leniency.
At the trial, Son denied the motive for killing his lover, claiming that he was not afraid of her pregnancy affecting his family life and career, as alleged in the indictment.
According to Son's testimony, N. knew that Son's wife was pregnant and asked him to terminate the pregnancy within a week. If not, N. implied that she would cause an accident to his wife.
In addition, he also testified that he did not intend to kill N., but only wanted to render his lover unconscious and then take her phone to delete any data about their relationship.
However, the volume of sleeping pills administered was excessive, leading to N.'s death.
However, during the trial, the court confirmed that this was only the defendant's one-sided testimony and exposed the falsehoods in his statements made in court.
Accordingly, the court determined that the defendant had premeditated the murder, which was why he had prepared the weapons, sleeping pills, and injected 10 doses of sleeping medication into the victim.
On April 13, 2024, while the victim was in a state of clinical death, Son used a knife to cut her neck and dismembered her body, and then disposed of her remains.
According to the indictment, Son is a general surgeon at Dong Nai General Hospital.