Nguyen Huu Tri, who was arrested on January 28, was found guilty of "molestation of a person under 16" and forced to pay compensation of nearly VND15 million ($646) to each family, media reports said.

According to the indictment, Tri was employed as a hotel cleaner in Linh Trung Ward of Thu Duc District in November 2019. At work, the man targeted five underage girls often found playing in the alley outside the hotel, habitually groping private areas of their bodies.

For their silence, Tri offered the girls candy and money.

His crime was uncovered in January this year after one of the girls mentioned his behavior to her parents, who filed police complaint.

Based on camera footage, police detained Tri for criminal investigation.

Hanoi and HCMC, Vietnam's southern metropolis, are two out of 10 national localities with the highest number of child abuse cases, lawmakers said at a meeting last month.

Around 700 children in HCMC were sexually harassed, molested or abused in the last five years, according to official figures. Many of them were injured, mentally scarred, made pregnant, or even killed.

A person found guilty of child molestation can be sentenced from between six months to 12 years in jail.

In most cases, perpetrators have been found to be people familiar with the children, such as teachers, relatives and neighbors.