15 years in prison for 2 women who sold a baby girl to 3 men as wives
Ha and Trang colluded to trick and sell the 12-year-old girl to a foreign country. Afterwards, the victim was sold as a wife to local men three times.
On February 24, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance trial of defendants Vi Thi Ha (born 1986) and Lo Thi Ha Trang (born 2002), both residing in Yen Thang commune, Tuong Duong district (Nghe An) for the crime of "Child trafficking".
The indictment stated that in June 2017, because she wanted to find a babysitting or housekeeping job for her daughter Tinh Thi MX (born 2004), the mother went to see Vi Thi Ha (her younger brother’s daughter). Hearing that, Ha promised to help find a job.
Knowing that Lo Thi Ha Trang was living and married in China, Ha called to ask for a job for X. Trang said that she would only go to China to get married, there was no job to do, and if she agreed, she would pay the family whose child was getting married 100 million VND, and Ha would receive 15 million VND as salary.
Hearing that, Ha agreed. After that, this subject met X.'s mother and lied that he had found a job for X. in China. Trusting her, the mother agreed to let her daughter go abroad.
On June 10, 2017, Ha picked up X. and took a bus to Mong Cai City (Quang Ninh). There, Trang asked someone to take X. to China through a small border route, while Ha returned home.
In a foreign country, Trang sold X. to a man born in 1994 in Hebei province (China) to marry for 314 million VND. Trang asked someone to bring 115 million VND to Ha. After that, Ha gave 100 million VND to X.'s mother, and she herself benefited 15 million VND.
X. lived with her first husband for about 2 years, then Trang sold her to a second man in Ha Nam province for 830,000 yuan (about 275 million VND). According to Trang's statement, because X. left, Trang had to return the money to her first husband.
After 2 years of living with her second husband, X. was sold by another woman to a third man in Ha Bac province to be his wife. In April 2022, Tinh Thi MX was rescued and brought home by the Blue Dragon Children's Organization Vietnam.
On August 7, 2024, the victim wrote a complaint to the police against the subjects. Four days later, Vi Thi Ha and Lo Thi Ha Trang turned themselves in to the police.
The investigation agency determined that at the time Ha and Trang committed the first crime, X. was only 12 years, 6 months, and 25 days old.
At the trial, the two defendants admitted to their crimes. Defendant Trang stated that after the victim escaped, X.'s second husband came to see her to demand her money back. Therefore, she had to pay him 40,000 NDT. Therefore, she benefited from that sale of the child by 6 million VND. In this case, Trang had sold X. twice, so she was subject to aggravating circumstances.
Attending the trial, the victim requested the two defendants to compensate her 100 million VND. Defendant Ha influenced the family to compensate the victim 11 million VND, while defendant Trang compensated 3 million VND.
After a comprehensive review of the case, the People's Court sentenced Vi Thi Ha to 10 years in prison and defendant Lo Thi Ha Trang to 5 years in prison for the crime of Child Trafficking.
