Murder caused by… honking but not avoiding!

Murder committed in a fit of anger.

More than six months have passed, but residents living near the largest landfill in Nghe An province are still haunted by the murder that occurred there. The perpetrator was a garbage truck driver, while the victim was a man who earned a living by scavenging for trash.

According to the indictment,Nguyen Chi TuanNguyen Chi Tuan was a contract driver for Vinh City Environmental Development Co., Ltd. On the afternoon of March 3, 2022, while driving a garbage truck to dump waste at the waste treatment plant in Hamlet 2, Nghi Yen Commune (Nghi Loc District), he saw many people and honked his horn to get them to move aside. Among them was Ho Sy Tr. (born in 1985), residing in Hamlet 2, Nghi Yen Commune (Nghi Loc District), who was collecting scrap materials at the landfill. However, after Tuan honked, Tr. still did not move aside, leading to a conflict between the two.

Due to the intervention of others, Tuan climbed into the cabin of his car. Mr. Tr. left and stood behind Tuan's car. After a while, Tuan found a small pair of scissors in his car and jumped out again, intending to "show off" to his opponent. The two continued to argue and then fought. When Mr. Tr. tried to hit Tuan, Tuan used the scissors to stab him, causing the victim to collapse and die. According to the autopsy results, the victim died from acute circulatory failure due to a penetrating wound to the neck.

After discovering that Mr. Tr. had died, Tuan abandoned the car and hid in the hilly area behind the landfill. At 6:30 PM the same day, Nguyen Chi Tuan surrendered to the police and confessed to his crime.

The compassion of a father who lost his child.

The victim's father has pleaded for leniency for the man who took his son's life. Photo: Tran Vu

On September 7, 2022, the People's Court of Nghe An province brought defendant Nguyen Chi Tuan (born in 1994), residing in Long Hoa hamlet, Hung Dong commune (Vinh City), to trial for the crime of "murder".

Sitting in the victim's representative's seat was a dark-skinned man in his sixties. He was the victim's father. Throughout the trial, he occasionally bowed his head, as mentioning the defendant's crime felt like a knife piercing his heart, causing him excruciating pain.

Nevertheless, when given the opportunity to speak, he pleaded for leniency for the defendant. The pain of losing his son, whom he had given birth to, raised, and held so much hope for, only to have him murdered by Tuan, still lingered. However, driven by humanity and compassion, he suppressed his grief and asked the court to give the defendant a chance to atone for his mistakes. The father also hoped that this forgiveness would instill a sense of redemption in the murderer.

“My child is gone, and even if the defendant receives an additional five years in prison, or however many years, my child cannot be brought back to life. We forgive him, we only hope that he will realize his mistakes and change, becoming a better person. Life needs humanity,” the defendant’s father said, his voice choked with emotion. Hearing his father’s words, the defendant Tuan bowed his head and remained silent.

Throughout the trial, the victim's wife, dressed in black and wearing a mourning headscarf, sat in the courthouse hallway, holding her approximately two-year-old child. Since her husband's murder, she has been raising three children alone, all of whom are at school age. Whenever her husband was mentioned, her eyes welled up with tears, filled with sorrow for him, self-pity, and pity for her children. She recounted how, due to their difficult circumstances, they had always worked hard. She worked as a factory worker while her husband collected and sold garbage to earn money. "The work was tiring and smelly, but he always persevered. Yet, because of a trivial conflict, he was deprived of his right to live. Now, I am a widow with orphaned children, and the house is empty without the family's breadwinner," the victim's wife lamented.

A harsh sentence

Before the witness stand, the defendant Tuan sincerely confessed, admitting to the criminal acts as charged in the indictment. When questioned by the court about the reasons leading to the crime...murder caseTuan admitted that the conflict in the case was very minor. “I was angry because when I honked the horn, Mr. Tr. didn't move out of the way to let the garbage truck pass. During the altercation, due to my hot temper and inability to control myself, I ‘accidentally’ killed him,” Tuan explained his act of murder.

Regarding the murder weapon, the defendant stated that the scissors were already in the cabin. He left the scissors in the car to "fix electrical wires" and did not intentionally bring them with him. In a fit of anger, he committed the murder.

Tuan turned to apologize to the victim's family, explaining that his hot temper and inability to control himself had led him to "accidentally" kill someone. Photo: Tran Vu

In the presence of the victim's family, Tuan turned and apologized. He also explained his difficult family circumstances, stating that he and his wife had been married for seven years but had no children, and requested the court to consider mitigating circumstances. He explained that he had worked as a contract driver for a company since 2013, earning between 6 and 7 million VND per month. Due to financial difficulties, after the incident, his family had to sell land to partially compensate the victim's family, hoping for a reduced sentence.

After the trial, the panel of judges determined that the defendant's act of murder was brutal and therefore required severe punishment. However, they also considered several mitigating circumstances, including the defendant's surrender, sincere confession, remorse, and the family's voluntary partial compensation to the victim. Considering all aspects of the case, the court sentenced Nguyen Chi Tuan to 16 years in prison for "Murder." Regarding the civil aspect, since the two families had already settled the matter, the court did not consider it.

The trial ended, and Tuan quickly turned to say goodbye to his relatives, while the victim's family sadly left. Although the pain of a father losing his son, a wife losing her husband, and a child becoming an orphan still lingered, they chose forgiveness. Forgiveness so that those left behind could live more peacefully, forgiveness so that the wrongdoer could realize his mistakes, forgiveness so that only humanity would remain.

Hopefully, the compassion and forgiveness of the victim's father will help Tuan realize his wrongdoing and turn to the right path. Hopefully, this will serve as a lesson for many, so they don't regret a moment of anger and recklessness that could lead to months and years in prison.