Hanoi - A court in southern Vietnam has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for murdering an Italian tourist in December 2006, a court official said Thursday. The Peoples Court of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, 120 kilometres south-east of Ho Chi Minh City, handed down the sentence to Nguyen Trung Hieu, 27, at a one-day trial last Friday, according to the trial's presiding judge, Hoang Thanh Tung.
According to the indictment, Hieu and his girlfriend Trieu Thi Hoai Phuong, 26, were arrested in December 2006 on charges of killing Giovanni Martinelli of Venice, Italy in the resort city of Vung Tau.
"Hieu pleaded guilty at the trial," said Judge Hoang Thanh Tung.
Giovanni Martinelli, 64, had been found dead with more than 20 knife wounds on his neck, chest and stomach in a rented house in Vung Tau on December 18, 2006.
According to the investigating police, Hieu and Phuong went to Giovanni's house to drink beer. That night, Hieu stabbed Giovanni while he was in bed with Phuong, and the two took Giovanni's camera, laptop computer, cell phone and 400,000 dong (25 dollars) in cash.
"The court also sentenced Phuong to 18 months in prison for being involved and not reporting her boyfriend's crime to the police," said the judge.
Judge Hoang Thanh Tung also presided at the 2006 trial of former British rock star Garry Glitter on charges of committing obscene acts with two 12-year-old Vietnamese girls. Glitter was sentenced to three years in prison. Last February, his sentence was reduced by three months.
