Unusual Murder at Midnight

Unusual death in the night

On the morning of July 1, 2011, residents of Hamlet 9 (Dien Lam Commune, Dien Chau District) were shocked to discover Ms. Pham Thi H. (born in 1982) dead at her home. The murder case left many residents bewildered and fearful because the victim was a gentle person, loved by her neighbors and had never had any grudges against anyone. Although the door showed no signs of being forced open, the family noticed that there were many scratches on the victim's body and her clothes were disheveled, so they immediately reported it to the authorities.

Upon receiving the report, the Dien Chau District Police Investigation Agency immediately dispatched a working group to quickly arrive at the scene, and at the same time coordinated with officers from the Provincial Police Department's Criminal Techniques Department to conduct a crime scene investigation and autopsy.

Initial autopsy results determined: The cause of death of the victim Pham Thi H. was respiratory obstruction. In addition, the authorities also discovered some other suspicions, that is, on the female victim's body there were some bruises and a small amount of semen. According to the victim's family, before her death, Ms. H. wore a pair of gold earrings, but they are no longer there. From the traces and the scene left behind, the working group determined that this could be a murder case, with signs of rape before death and robbery.

Project GH711 was established under the leadership of the Department of Investigation Police on Social Order Crimes. A large force including the Major Crimes Team, police forces at all levels, ... quickly entered the investigation. In order to have a basis to verify whether the victim was raped or not, the authorities took a semen sample from the victim to conduct a DNA test to serve the work of verifying the perpetrator.

Through analyzing the situation, as well as what was collected at the scene, the investigators initially determined: The perpetrator was very likely familiar with the victim because there were absolutely no signs of forced entry on the door. In-depth investigation into the personal relationships of the victim Pham Thi H., it was learned that the victim was 2 months pregnant, her husband worked far away so she was home alone. The victim herself had a good background, no illicit relationships...

The suspicion of love affair was quickly ruled out by the investigators. They continued to mobilize forces to check on criminals who were possibly involved in the case. Among the prominent suspects in the area that were targeted, the investigators paid special attention to the subject who called the victim "aunt", called the victim's husband "distant cousin", and occasionally visited the victim and her husband's house. That was Nguyen Van Thanh (born in 1989), residing in Hamlet 9, Dien Lam Commune, Dien Chau District. Thanh himself had a criminal record for the crime ofrobbery.

By urgently verifying and investigating, and by using professional measures, the investigators had enough grounds to summon Thanh to the investigation agency for clarification. During the first summons, Nguyen Van Thanh firmly asserted that he had nothing to do with the death of Ms. Pham Thi H. and provided many alibi evidences to mislead.

However, with the evidence, solid evidence, unclear time collected during the investigation, plus the results of DNA testing,... Thanh could not deny the entire act. On July 14, 2011, the Provincial Police Investigation Agency issued an emergency arrest warrant for Nguyen Van Thanh for murder and rape.

The face of the villain

Late at night on June 30, 2011, after going out with his friends, Nguyen Van Thanh was tipsy and suddenly got horny. It was almost midnight, Thanh suddenly thought of Ms. Pham Thi H., the person he called his aunt (he called Ms. H.'s husband his distant cousin). Knowing that his "cousin" was working far away and not at home, Nguyen Van Thanh went to his aunt's house to "talk".

When he arrived at the gate and saw that Ms. H. was already asleep, Thanh knocked on the door. Knowing that she was his niece, Ms. H. was not on guard and opened the door to let Thanh in. Ms. H. asked Thanh what was wrong that he came in the middle of the night. Thanh said that he couldn't sleep and was bored so he came to find his aunt to confide in her. And the naughty nephew told his aunt to turn off the light. When she reacted, Thanh reached out to turn off the light and then sexually assaulted the victim. Ms. H. pushed Thanh's hand away and reacted fiercely, but the unscrupulous nephew still controlled his aunt to commit the animalistic act. Ms. H. screamed, cried and begged. Afraid that the neighbors would hear, she pulled the blanket next to her to cover her aunt's mouth and neck, then used her right hand to choke the victim's neck to commit the act of rape.

After raping his own aunt, Thanh discovered that she had stopped breathing. He calmly put her clothes back on, tidied the bed, dressed her and covered her with a blanket to create a fake scene, like a death in her sleep. Then he closed the door and left.

On the morning of July 1, 2011, the family discovered that Ms. H. had died under unusual circumstances and reported it to the authorities. At the Nghe An Provincial Police Department, Thanh also confessed to robbing the victim Pham Thi H. of her gold earrings after murdering and raping her. During the investigation, the Dien Chau District Police also discovered that Nguyen Van Thanh was the perpetrator of the motorbike theft that occurred on June 23, 2011 in Quynh Chau Commune (Quynh Luu).

Trial of Penalties

The trial of Nguyen Van Thanh held on the morning of November 29, 2011 attracted special attention from the people of Dien Chau district. From early morning, hundreds of people crowded the gate of the district cultural house to attend the trial. The large number of people made it extremely difficult for the authorities to maintain order.

Although the trial did not begin until 10:30 a.m., hundreds of people patiently waited to see justice served against the murderer who had committed three crimes at the same time.killing”, “rape” and “theft of property”. What was even more heartbreaking for the victim’s family was when the forensic agency, while examining the body, discovered that Pham Thi H. was 10 weeks pregnant. The death of Pham Thi H. and her innocent baby caused outrage among the people, so hundreds of farmers left their fields to attend the trial.

Many people climbed up to the railing of the second floor to watch the trial, hundreds of people crowded outside the hallway, trying to look through the cracks in the door to see the culprit pay the price. The anger even reached its peak, when the jury deliberated, many people rushed to the area where the defendant stood to "show off".

At the trial, Nguyen Van Thanh said that because the couple had a conflict, the defendant beat his wife, so she went back to her parents' house. Knowing that he was at fault, Thanh went to his parents' house to apologize but was not accepted. The defendant was very sad and depressed, so he planned to go to his aunt's house to confide. Thanh confessed: "When the defendant pressed aunt H. down and committed the act of rape, because aunt H. screamed too loudly and reacted strongly, the defendant pulled the blanket up and used his hand to choke her neck. After being satisfied, he discovered that aunt H. was no longer moving, the defendant gave first aid but it was not effective. He was so scared that he covered aunt H. with a blanket and ran home."

Unlike his initial calm demeanor, Thanh began to become tongue-tied when questioned by the judge. He could only stammer the word “I…” and then repeated it several times, forcing the judge to calm him down and encourage him to calmly testify in order to receive mitigating circumstances. “The defendant drank a lot of alcohol and was frustrated with life, so he went to see Mrs. H. to confide in her, not intending to rape her,” Thanh affirmed in court.

However, with convincing arguments, the judge affirmed that the defendant Thanh committed the crime with intention. After beating around the bush for a while, the defendant Thanh could only answer: "I don't know." But in the end, Nguyen Van Thanh admitted that because he knew the victim's husband was away, his desire was so great that he went to Ms. H's house to commit the act of rape.

Thanh also said that the victim’s death was beyond the defendant’s subjective intention. When given the final say, Thanh asked the jury to sentence the defendant to “the lightest sentence possible so that the defendant can start his life over and become a useful person to society”. The consequences of the defendant’s actions were extremely serious, depriving the victim of her life, insulting the woman’s honor and dignity, and appropriating other people’s property.

The defendant has a bad family background (in 2007, Nguyen Van Thanh was sentenced by the People's Court of Dien Chau district to 1 year in prison for "robbery"), so it was necessary to permanently remove the defendant from society. The panel sentenced Nguyen Van Thanh to death for murder, 5 years in prison for rape, and 1 year in prison for theft. In total, the defendant Nguyen Van Thanh must serve the death penalty. In addition, the defendant must compensate the victim's family 53 million VND.

Hearing the verdict, Nguyen Van Thanh did not show any emotion. Only his wife covered her face and cried. Perhaps she was regretful. If only the young couple had restrained their egos, if only she had not childishly sulked and gone back to her parents' house, if only Thanh had come to her house to apologize and forgive her husband, then maybe her husband would not have come to this end today. Walking out of the court, the shoulders of Nguyen Van H. - the victim's husband seemed to sag. His family's journey to seek justice had ended. The perpetrator had paid for his crimes, but his beloved wife and unborn child were gone forever.