On Monday, the Da Nang People’s Court sentenced 42-year-old Nguyen Hoai Nam from Lien Chieu District to 18 months in prison for “stealing personal property”.

According to the indictment from the city’s prosecutors, at about 2am on 31 May Nam walked through the Thanh Lan Motel in Thanh Khe District’s Thanh Khe Tay Ward and saw that a window of a third-floor room was open.  He climbed up on to the room’s balcony and broke into the room.  The room’s occupant was in a deep sleep and, taking advantage of this, Nam stole her handbag from a table and fled out of the room.  The victim was 48-year-old Vienma from Savannakhet Province in Laos, and her handbag contained 2 necklaces, 1 gold bracelet and 8,500 LAK.

The next morning, Nam was arrested by the city police on his way home after selling the stolen bracelet for 11 million VND.

Hoai Nam at his trial