Vietnamese woman hurls Molotov cocktails at ex-boyfriend's New Taipei home

越南女子朝前男友在新北市的住家投擲汽油彈

Nguyen enraged after ex-boyfriend refused to reconcile, hurled petrol bombs at his residence


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Vietnamese immigrant allegedly set fire to her ex-boyfriend's home in New Taipei City after he refused to reconcile with her.

After breaking up with her 50-year-old boyfriend surnamed Hong (洪), a 38-year-old naturalized Taiwanese woman of Vietnamese descent surnamed Nguyen (阮) expressed her wish to reconcile with the man at the start of this month, but was rejected, reported Liberty Times. Furious, she allegedly sent an angry text message and issued threats toward Hong.

Later, on the night of July 2, she allegedly made homemade gasoline bombs and hurled them at Hong's residence, setting it ablaze. During the process, Nguyen sustained burns to her feet.

After police were alerted to the incident and arrived at the scene, they arrested Nguyen. After questioning the suspect, they transferred her to the New Taipei District Prosecutor's Office to be investigated for malicious mischief (毀損罪), threatening and endangering public safety (恐嚇危害安全罪), and arson (縱火罪).

Nguyen reportedly became increasingly enraged as the night wore on, and she first sent a threatening text message to Hong warning him "I will make you pay the price." Early on July 2, Nguyen acquired four plastic gasoline containers and one plastic water bottle to create petrol bombs and went to Hong's residence on Minxiang Street in New Taipei's Zhonghe District.

She then allegedly proceeded to ignite the petrol bombs with a lighter and threw them at his doorway. A fire broke out outside Hong's house, and she fled the scene on foot.

Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire and none of the home's occupants were injured, but both a taxi owned by Hong's father and a scooter owned by his sister were badly burned. Police then reviewed surveillance camera footage and saw Nguyen setting fire to the petrol bombs and throwing them at Hong's home.

They then traced her movements to her home, handcuffed her, and took her in for questioning. According to the police, Nguyen has one child.

Both Nguyen and Hong had divorced from their previous spouses before dating.