Two migrant workers from Vietnam have been found guilty of robbery of another Vietnamese national in Changhua County and carrying a dangerous weapon and sentenced to jail terms of between three and eight years.
In its ruling issued Wednesday, the Changhua District Court sentenced the two Vietnamese workers, surnamed Le and Hoang, to prison terms of 90 months and 44 months, respectively, for robbing a Vietnamese man identified as Nguyen after entering his house with a dangerous weapon in hand in a case that occurred two years ago.
An accomplice of the two individuals found guilty, surnamed Tran, was not convicted of a crime because of his minor role in the case and for cooperating with police in the investigation, the court ruled.
The verdicts can be appealed.
According to the ruling, the two Vietnamese nationals, both legal migrant workers in Taiwan, were found guilty of breaking into Nguyen’s house in Lugang in April 2021 under the pretext of wanting to settle a debt owed by Nguyen to their friend “A Tai.”
They also accused Nguyen of having an affair with A Tai’s wife, and wanted to vent their anger at Nguyen, according to the ruling.
The duo then forced Nguyen at knifepoint to get in a car driven by Tran and took NT$30,000 (US$1,000) in cash from his house before heading to Longjing in Taichung.
Hoang and Tran got off the car on their way, leaving Nguyen alone with Le, who drove the car to Douliu in Yunlin County, the court found.
While inside the car, Le ordered Nguyen to call his brother in Vietnam via a cellphone and ask him to remit 120 million Vietnamese dong (NT$153,000) because of a business emergency to a bank account designated by Nguyen in Vietnam, according to the court.
Only after the remittance was made was Nguyen brought back to Lugang and released, the court found.
Nguyen later reported the case to Changhua police, who then tracked down Le, Hoang and Tran, while A Tai’s identity remained unknown.
While standing trial in court, Le and Hoang admitted to having intimidated Nguyen, but they denied having robbed him.
The court ruled, however, that based on the statements of Nguyen and Tran and other evidence, Nguyen had no way to resist demands that he hand over property to the defendants due to the threat of force, constituting robbery.
Tran was not convicted because his only action was to drive the car and he did not enter Nguyen’s house, the court ruled.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel