Life sentence for young man who stabbed to death a man who refused to drink beer at a funeral
(Baonghean.vn) - Coming to a funeral, Niem (residing in Nghi Loc, Nghe An) invited Mr. H. to drink beer but was refused. After a while of arguing, Niem went home and took a knife to stab Mr. H. to death. Pham Van Niem was sentenced to life in prison by the People's Court for "Murder" (higher than the sentence proposed by the People's Procuracy).
On the morning of September 23, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Pham Van Niem (born 1985), residing in Hamlet 11, Nghi Van Commune, Nghi Loc District, for the crime of "Murder".
According to the investigation agency's documents, at noon on May 26, 2019, Niem went to a villager's house to attend a funeral. While eating, Niem went to the next table to invite everyone to drink beer and met and invited Thai Viet H. (born in 1988), residing in Nghi Van commune. Mr. H. refused to drink, so the two sides argued loudly. H. said: "You can threaten whoever you want, but don't threaten me." After that, the two challenged each other but were stopped by everyone.
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| Defendant Pham Van Niem at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu |
At this time, Le Van Dai invited Niem to go home. On the way home, Niem said to Dai, "I will beat you to death." Dai said, "Please bear with it."
After returning home, Niem went behind the family's well, took a 30cm long sharp knife, tucked it into his belt in front of his stomach, and rode his motorbike to the funeral site.
At around 1pm the same day, Pham Van Niem arrived and went straight to where Mr. H. was sitting, smoking tobacco and drinking water. When he was about 2m away from H., Niem pulled out a knife and stabbed Mr. H. in the left abdomen. Seeing this, some friends present rushed to stop him. Niem held the knife in his hand and stepped back, saying, "Take him to the hospital or he will die."
The victim was taken to Nghe An General Hospital by people. However, at noon on May 27, Mr. Thai Viet H. died. The forensic examination conclusion of Nghe An Criminal Techniques Department concluded that the cause of Mr. H.'s death was due to pulmonary embolism, causing the victim to suffer from circulatory failure due to a wound that penetrated the colon.
At the trial, Pham Van Niem showed remorse and regret. The defendant stated that he did not intentionally kill Mr. H. “The defendant is very remorseful and apologizes to the victim and the victim’s family.”
The victim's family representative did not request consideration of civil compensation, only asking the court to try the right person for the right crime.
