Two men were sentenced to death and two others received 30 years in jail each in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday for the killing of a husband and wife during a robbery.

According to indictment heard at an open-air hearing of the HCMC People’s Court in Go Vap District, in September 2008 Son asked Chau and Truong to rob a motorbike shop on Phan Van Tri Street of the district after seeing many valuables at the house, also on the same premises.

They refused and Truong introduced Sang, who later stabbed shop owner Nguyen Anh Son to death during the robbery on the night of September 10, 2008.

Luu Thanh Huong, the owner’s wife, heard the noise and came to see what was happening only to be fatally stabbed by Son. Housekeeper Le Thi Thanh was spared after pleading she was just a servant who did not know anything. She was tied to the stairs in the house.

The dead couple then had a baby 14 months old.

Son and Sang, who arrived on Chau’s motorbike, took away many valuables including two Vertu cell phones that cost thousands of dollars each, a Rolex wristwatch, a diamond ring, a laptop, a pocket and a safe containing gold and diamond jewelry.

They then had the safe opened by Duong Truong Quy, who got three years in jail at the trial.

Son fled to Ben Tre Province in the Mekong Delta after sharing things among his group while Truong was caught when he was trying to dispose of the safe.

Police then seized valuables worth nearly VND250 million (US$13,540) in total.

“I decided that I had to kill someone and I had to do it quickly,” Son said at the trial.

Chau said he didn’t join the robbery but knew of the plan. The court named him and Truong as accomplices in the crime.

Reported by Le Nga – Minh Tam