Life term upheld for woman who set husband on fire

HCM CITY — An appeals court in HCM City has upheld the previous sentence of life in prison handed down by the Long An Province People's Court after finding a woman guilty of causing the death of her husband by setting him on fire.

Tran Thuy Lieu received the sentence from the Supreme Court in HCM City yesterday for causing the death of her husband, Le Hoang Hung, a journalist working for Nguoi Lao dong (Labourer) newspaper in Long An Province.

In March, the province's court sentenced the woman to life in prison, but Hung's mother wanted the case heard again because she suspected that another person had assisted Lieu in setting her son on fire.

Lieu said at the court in HCM City on Friday that she had been having an affair with the section head of the province's Department of Market Management. She and the man often went to Cambodia to gamble, which had left her family with major debt.

During the trial, she admitted to setting her husband on fire because of family conflicts, but she said she did not want him to die. She also asked the court for a lighter sentence so she could take care of her and Hung's two daughters. — VNS