The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court, in China

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court, in China, has awarded a death sentence to a young man who killed a university student and injured three others while he was trying to escape after snatching a laptop from the student in last September. The 24-year-old killer, Cao Trung Lap, was sentenced to death in a trial at a public site in Tan Binh District after the court rejected his imploration for a commutation.
According to the indictment, Lap was arrested on September 17, 2012 after he killed 22-year-old Hoang Ngoc Tri and injured police captain Vo Sy Hoang, from the Tan Phu District Police. On the morning that day, Tri, with a laptop bag on his shoulder, was driving his girlfriend on a motorbike on Hoang Hoa Tham street in Tan Binh District when Lap came up from behind on a motorbike, snatched the bag from Tri, and sped up to flee.
Tri chased after Lap and ran his bike into Lap’s, and both bikes crashed to the ground. They wrestled and Lap pulled out a knife and stabbed Tri in the chest and belly before running away.
Captain Hoang, who was travelling on the street, ran after the robber and caught up with him later, but Lap also stabbed Hoang and escaped. He later stabbed two other people who blocked his way before some local residents seized him.
Tri was taken to the hospital but he died soon later due to severe injuries to his heart.