19 years in prison for man who killed his wife in the middle of the night

Taking the life of a wife in the middle of the night

The trial of defendant Vo Van Nghia (born in 1965), residing in Hung Loc commune, Vinh city, for the crime of “Murder” recently attracted public attention. The courtroom that afternoon was packed with people attending. They were relatives, neighbors of the defendant and the victim. Because, the victim in the case was none other than the defendant’s wife - Ms. Nguyen Thi L. (born in 1969).

Vo Van Nghia and his wife used to have a happy time when both of them took care of the family and raised 2 children. When the children grew up, got married, and became grandparents, Nghia and his wife had some conflicts in their life. Of course, "even chopsticks sometimes collide", so conflicts between husband and wife were inevitable. But then, the anger between the couple was the source of a heartbreaking case that happened in the middle of the night on a New Year's Day.

According to the indictment, around the beginning of December 2022 (lunar calendar), due to a conflict, Nghia and his wife did not sleep together but slept in separate rooms. Late at night on March 13, 2023, after returning from exercise, Nghia saw his wife lying alone in the room, so he went in and said, "Let's forget everything and live to make our children and grandchildren happy."

In response to her husband's request, Mrs. L. firmly replied, "There is nothing left between you and me. Go to your room and sleep." Nghia immediately questioned his wife, "If you don't sleep with your husband, who will you sleep with?" Mrs. L. said she slept with an animal, which made Nghia angry, so he threatened, "Then I'll show you what's wrong" and went back to his room.

Although he had returned to his own room, Nghia remembered his wife's words and became angry. About 10 minutes later, Nghia got up, went to the kitchen to get a knife, went into his wife's room, turned on the light, and stabbed Mrs. L. 13 times. Although Mrs. L. struggled to get up and call for help and was taken to the hospital by her children, the victim died. The cause was determined to be respiratory failure and acute circulatory failure due to multiple wounds that punctured the lungs and severed ribs.

As for the perpetrator, that night, Vo Van Nghia brought a weapon to the police station to surrender. With the above actions, Nghia was prosecuted and brought to trial for murder.

In front of the witness stand, the defendant who took the life of his once “sleeping wife” clearly confessed his crime. The defendant confessed to the incident as stated in the indictment. Nghia said that because he thought of his children and grandchildren, he took the initiative to reconcile with his wife but was rejected. In addition, his wife’s harsh words made the defendant angry, causing the heartbreaking incident.

Tragedy of a family

Although more than 4 months have passed, Nghia is still haunted by the fact that his hands are stained with his wife's blood. The defendant expressed remorse and apologized to his wife's family and children at the trial. The defendant justified his actions by wanting to reconcile with his wife so that the family would be less tense and the children would be happy, but his wife's refusal made him lose his composure. At this time, the presiding judge reminded him that he could not use that as an excuse to kill someone, especially to kill his own wife. If the couple's life was tense, the defendant had many options, including divorce. However, the defendant had committed a very serious violation of the law. Hearing those words, Nghia bowed his head.

Present in court, the defendant’s two children did not request civil compensation, and asked the court to consider reducing the sentence for their father. The children suffered the greatest pain from losing their mother, witnessing their father being in trouble with the law at an old age.

Meanwhile, the victim’s sister told the court that there was a reason for her sister’s resolute attitude towards her husband. “About a week before the incident, Ms. L. met me and confided in me that her husband was hot-tempered, patriarchal, and often gambled, and did not give his wife money. She said, “From now on, he and I no longer have feelings for each other.” I encouraged her to let go of whatever she could, but I did not expect things to turn out like this,” the victim’s sister said.

At the trial, in the presence of a large crowd, the panel of judges reminded everyone about how to behave with each other in married life. Violence cannot be used to resolve conflicts, instead, husband and wife must listen and respect each other to set an example for their children and grandchildren. The defendant's actions are a violation of the law and will be punished accordingly, but this is also a lesson and a warning for many others.

Exercising the right to prosecute at the trial, the representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province stated the opinion of the indictment, this is a case of a particularly serious nature, the defendant's criminal behavior is extremely dangerous to society. The defendant is a husband, a father in the family, should be an example in raising children, but just because of a small conflict, the defendant took the life of his wife. The defendant's criminal behavior shows hooliganism, recklessness, disregard for other people's lives, and disregard for the law. From there, the representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province proposed a sentence of 19 to 20 years in prison for the defendant Nghia.

In his final statement before the court deliberated, the defendant asked the court to consider reducing his sentence because of his old age and poor health. “I beg the court to be lenient so that I can soon have a chance to return to start a new life, to live with my children and grandchildren in my old age,” the defendant stated.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s criminal behavior was particularly serious, directly violating the right to life of a person protected by law, and therefore should be severely punished. However, it was also necessary to consider some mitigating circumstances for the defendant, such as his honest confession, remorse, family contributions to the revolution, and the victim’s family’s request for a reduced sentence. Considering the case in its entirety, the court sentenced defendant Vo Van Nghia to 19 years in prison.

The trial has ended, but the reminders of the panel of judges at the trial will always be valuable to many people - always live and work according to the constitution and the law, do not let a moment of anger or lack of careful thinking lead to regret.