Gold medal for bravery?

A woman in HCM City had her gold necklace robbed when she was driving her motorbike on Phan Đăng Lưu Street on Saturday. The thieves were driving a motorbike in the same direction, the Pháp luật Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh ( HCM City Law ) newspaper reported.

The female victim, instead of crying out as many people would do in a similar situation, calmly followed the thieves.

Meanwhile, after grabbing the necklace, the thieves sped up but a few minutes slowed down to normal speed, not knowing they were being followed.

The necklace owner caught up with them on Đinh Tiên Hoàng Street. She reportedly pulled the woman who was sitting in the back of the bike, and started screaming “thieves” to call for help.

Although one of the thieves ran away, the other admitted their crime to police.

Some applauded the calmness and bravery that enabled the necklace owner to retrieve her prized possession. Others said she took too great of a risk.

The man who didn’t die

 A 60-year-old biker was said to come back to life half an hour after his motorbike collided with another motorbike in southern Bình Dương Province’s Dĩ An Town on Saturday evening.

Witnesses said the collision happened when the man, with a three-year-old child on his motorbike, tried to cross a road. A young driver on the main road failed to avoid them.

The young driver and the kid were promptly taken to hospital, while the older driver stopped breathing, witnesses said.

Local residents even donated incense, fruit and a mat to cover the victim.

But, unexpectedly, the man wrapped in the mat moved after about half an hour, witness said.

He is now in hospital. The lesson? Don’t rush to conclude that someone is dead.

Good help is hard to find

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyễn Hồng Kỳ, deputy head of Nha Trang Police, said on Sunday that police are investigating the alleged appropriation by a domestic helper of her employer’s house.

The 81-year-old employer, Lê Thị Háo, and her relatives reported to police that the domestic helper stole housing documents and used them as collateral to borrow money.

Háo lives alone in a three-storey house estimated to be worth VNĐ 5 billion (US$ 224,200) on Bạch Đằng Street, Nha Trang City. In 2012, she hired the domestic helper as her health deteriorated.

Háo told police that last month, the domestic helper took her to visit a doctor, but not her usual one. She was asked to sign and press her finger print on many documents, which she hardly read.

As soon as the domestic helper admitted her acts, Háo’s relatives found housing documents, including a land-use right certificate and house ownership certificate granted by Nha Trang City People’s Committee on July 28, and another housing transfer contract saying Háo had sold her house to a man for VNĐ 500 million (one tenth of the house’s current price).

However, the 53-year-old helper said that she received only VNĐ150 million in the deal that also involved a couple who dealt with the housing documents.

And the lesson? Good help is hard to find.  — VNS