Women sold to foreign countries, cousins ​​both go to jail

On January 13, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance trial of three defendants, including: Le Thi Ngoc (born 1988), residing in Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district; Kha Thi Van (born 1982), residing in Nga My commune, Tuong Duong district; Lo Van Cau (born 1981), residing in Xieng My commune, Tuong Duong district, all for the crime of "Human trafficking".

Kha Thi Van is Le Thi Ngoc's cousin who is married and living in China. To have money to spend, in May 2016, the two sides called to agree on sending people to China to sell them for marriage. Van promised to pay 30 million VND per victim if they were sold.

Three defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu

About 10 days later, Ngoc met Xon (unknown background and address) and asked him to introduce someone who wanted to work for a company in Vinh City. Then, Xon introduced Ms. Hoa Thi H. (born in 1996, residing in Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district) to Ngoc. To make the victim believe, Ngoc told Ms. H. that she was going to work for a company but in reality, he tricked her into going to China.

Afterwards, Ngoc contacted Lo Van Cau (Van's uncle, Ngoc's uncle) about selling Ms. H. to China, promising to pay 10 million VND. Cau agreed, so he colluded with Ngoc to take Ms. H. and her young daughter to Quang Ninh and then handed them over to a man he did not know.

3 days later, Van in China took Ms. H. and her children to her house. About 1 month later, Van asked someone to sell Ms. H. to a Chinese man to marry for 190 million VND.

However, this person only gave Van more than 31 million VND. The investigation agency determined that in this case, Van benefited 1.5 million VND, Ngoc benefited 11 million VND, Cau benefited 10 million VND, and Xon pocketed 9 million VND.

As for the victim, Ms. H. was sold to a Chinese man who married her and fled to Vietnam in May 2021 with her child. On March 9, 2022, the victim filed a complaint against the subjects for human trafficking to the authorities.

At the trial, the defendants admitted to their crimes. They admitted that out of greed, they discussed and agreed to send Ms. H. to China.

After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced Kha Thi Van to 5 years in prison; defendant Le Thi Ngoc to 4 years in prison; defendant Lo Van Cau to 3 years and 6 months in prison for human trafficking. In civil matters, the 3 defendants were required to jointly compensate the victim 80 million.

For Xon, because from the beginning this person did not know that Ms. H. was taken to China, there was no basis for consideration and handling.