McMullen Brian Anthony, born in 1964, was convicted of murder under Vietnam’s Penal Code, the Vietnam News Agency reported, citing the court’s ruling on Friday.
According to the indictment by the Hanoi People’s Procuracy, Anthony met Nguyen Thi L., born in 1975 and a Hanoi resident, through social media in 2023 before moving to Vietnam.
The couple married on July 24, 2023, and lived together with the woman’s two children from a previous relationship.
At around 6:45 pm on April 19, 2025, the couple were sitting on a bed in a second-floor bedroom when Anthony read messages his wife had exchanged with several other men.
Suspecting her of having an affair, he argued with her, and she told him to leave the house.
During the ensuing altercation, the couple scuffled and injured each other. Anthony then picked up a cylindrical metal bar and struck his wife, causing her to collapse on the floor with heavy bleeding from her head.
After seeing her lying motionless, Anthony dropped the metal bar on the floor.
When the woman’s daughter came downstairs, he repeatedly shouted in English, “You’re all crazy,” before taking his bag and wallet from beside the bed and leaving.
The woman’s two children called an ambulance to take her to hospital.
Medical examinations found that she had suffered a brain contusion in the left temporal region and a fracture of the left parietal bone extending to the greater wing of the sphenoid bone.
She survived thanks to timely emergency treatment but sustained injuries resulting in a 59-percent impairment of her health. She was hospitalized from April 19 to July 21, 2025.
Hanoi police arrested Anthony on April 20, 2025.