Taxi driver admits murdering young woman in central Vietnam

By Duc Hung July 5, 2016 | 11:44 pm PT

Passenger strangled to death for just $11.

Police in the central province of Ha Tinh have arrested a Mai Linh Group taxi driver for allegedly killing a passenger to steal her bag.

On July 3, 26-year-old Nguyen Van Tien drove Pham Thi Oanh, 23, from Ha Tinh Town to a pagoda in Thach Ha Commune, and waited to give her a lift back to her hotel.

On the way to the hotel, Tien stopped in a deserted area, locked the car doors and strangled Oanh to death. He then took her bag, which contained a mobile phone and just VND250,000 ($11), and dumped her body in a river about five kilometers from the scene.

taxi-driver-admits-murdering-young-woman-in-central-vietnam

The site where the victim's body was found. Photo by VnExpress/Duc Hung

The woman's body was found by local people on July 5.

Tien was arrested and confessed his crime to the police. He said that he owed his friends some money, so he came up with the robbery to pay back the debt.

The victim was a fourth-year student at the Hue University of Education. She had been assigned to be an invigilator for the national high school graduation exams in the commune.

The case is pending further investigation.

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