10 and a half years in prison for two village boys who beat up their friend after a drinking party at a ghost-revelation ceremony

On the morning of February 27, the People's Court of Quy Hop district held a public trial for the defendants Vi Van May (born 1991) and Vi Van Thuan (born 1999), both residing in Dong Tien hamlet, Chau Cuong commune, for the crime of "Intentionally causing injury".

According to the indictment, at around 6:00 p.m. on February 23, 2018, Vi Van Loi's family (residing in Dong Lum hamlet, Chau Quang commune) organized a meal and drank wine at the family's funeral. Vi Van May, Vi Van Thuan, Vi Van Hung (born in 1988) and Vi Van Ha (born in 1990) were invited to Loi's house to attend the drinking party.

Vi Van May and Vi Van Thuan in court. Photo: Phan Giang

At about 8:00 p.m., after finishing drinking, May took a motorbike to pick up Thuan, while Ha took a motorbike to pick up Hung, who also lived in Thai Quang hamlet, Chau Thai commune, in the direction of Dong Lum hamlet hall, 7 meters from Loi's house. Due to a sudden conflict, May stopped the motorbike, and Thuan got out of the motorbike and used a stick to make a fence near the roadside, about 1.5 meters long, to beat Ha and Hung.

Seeing that, Ha used a stainless steel baton to attack Thuan; Thuan and May used sticks made from a roadside fence to attack Ha and Hung. Hung was hit in the arm so he returned to Loi's house, while Ha was hit in the head by May's stick and fell unconscious on the street. Afterwards, May and Thuan used sticks to hit Ha many times before throwing the sticks at the scene and leaving.

Ha was taken to the emergency room by local people, but due to the severity of his injuries, he had to be transferred to Viet Duc Hospital for treatment. On July 15, 2018, Ms. Lo Thi Dien (Vi Van Ha's mother) filed a petition to prosecute and request an assessment of her child's disability rate.

The investigation agency conducted an assessment of Vi Van Ha's body disability rate at the time of assessment at 73%.

At the investigation agency, May and Thuan confessed to all acts of intentionally using sticks to cause injury to Vi Van Ha. May and Thuan's statements were completely consistent with the evidence collected during the investigation, consistent with the victim's statements and the statements of those with related rights and obligations...

The panel sentenced the defendants Vi Van May and Vi Van Thuan each to 5 years and 3 months in prison. Regarding civil liability, the two defendants May and Thuan must compensate the victim Vi Van Ha more than 190 million VND.