Murder after husband accepts wife's affair with neighbor

Nguyen Van Thanh, citing health issues, allowed his wife to have an extramarital relationship with their neighbor, but a confrontation upon discovering them led to a fatal attack.

On 24/3, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced Nguyen Van Thanh, 55, a resident of Dong Anh, to 20 years in prison for murder and an additional five years for the illegal use of a military weapon, totaling 25 years.

The indictment stated that Thanh and his wife operated a stall in the local market, adjacent to Mr. Trung's barbershop. In 10/2024, Thanh discovered his wife and Mr. Trung were having an affair and initially tried to stop it. However, he later consented to their extramarital relationship, demanding it remain "within limits."

The defendant Thanh in court. *Photo: Danh Lam*

In 2/2025, Thanh became frustrated by their frequent meetings and again forbade the relationship. On the afternoon of 26/4/2025, while his wife was alone at their market stall, Mr. Trung came over from his barbershop to eat and drink with her. An hour later, Thanh arrived from home, entered the stall, found the two intimately involved, and immediately assaulted his wife and fought with his rival.

Thanh grabbed a dao bau (traditional Vietnamese knife) from the stall, chased Mr. Trung, and stabbed him twice, resulting in his death.

Although Thanh's wife had sexual relations with Mr. Trung multiple times, they did not cohabit or live as husband and wife. Consequently, the investigating agency did not pursue charges against her for violating monogamy laws.

Why is the dao bau considered a military weapon?

In this case, in addition to murder, Thanh was also prosecuted for the illegal use of a military weapon, identified as the dao bau (a knife measuring 33,6 cm in total length, with a 22 cm blade, a maximum width of 6,3 cm, a sharp edge, a pointed tip, and a cylindrical handle 11,6 cm long with a maximum diameter of 3,3 cm, according to the indictment).

The prosecution determined it to be a "sharp, pointed knife" listed in Appendix 5 of the "list of highly lethal knives" issued with Circular No. 75/2024 by the Minister of Public Security.

These knives are classified as military weapons under the Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives, and Support Tools 2024, which became effective on 1/1/2025.

According to article 18 of this law, military weapons are exclusively equipped for specific groups: the People's Army; the self-defense militia; the coast guard; the People's Public Security; cipher agencies; investigation agencies of the Supreme People's Procuracy; forest rangers, fisheries inspectors; aviation security; border customs; specialized anti-smuggling forces of customs; and anti-drug crime forces of customs.

Article 304 of the Penal Code stipulates that anyone illegally using a military weapon faces one to seven years in prison; if it results in death, the penalty is five to 12 years.

The detailed list of highly lethal knives, as categorized in Appendix 5 of Circular 75, is as follows: