Tears as teenager sentenced to die

A 19-year-old youth who was sentenced to death by firing squad in Hanoi's People's Court last night pleaded for mercy after confessing to stabbing a policeman to death during Tet New Year celebrations.

Duong The Tung lifted his head and cried out: 'Mother, I'm gone', as the judge refused his pleas for clemency in what was seen as a landmark case in Hanoi's crackdown on 'social evils'.

His mother, Nguyen Thi Phong, wailed in reply: 'My son, my son . . . what have my ancestors done for the law to take your life like this?' Police then forced the youth down stairs and into an armoured van in front of a 2000-strong crowd packing the court grounds in central Hanoi.

Prosecutors told the court how police officer Nguyen Van Ngu was stabbed once through the chest as he tried to stop Duong and 15 other drunken youths attacking a cyclo driver. Duong slashed the driver and three other men who ran to his aid as a row broke out when the cyclo driver refused to take all of the youths at once, the court heard.

The gang was on its way to seek revenge for an earlier attack on a friend, getting drunk first to celebrate Duong's return from Ho Chi Minh City.

The court heard how Duong, the son of a long-serving Communist Party member, fled to his sister's house south of Hanoi but was later talked into confessing by his brother and a police friend in a bid for clemency.

Those hopes were dashed when chief judge Nguyen Son said he must be sentenced to death to avoid the 'indignation of the people and to preserve discipline and threaten the other criminals'.