The tragedy of a pregnant woman who offered to sell herself for 30 million

On September 17, 2020, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of Cut Van Ba ​​(born in 1995; residing in Na Loi commune, Ky Son district) for the crime of "human traffickingi”. The victim of the case is Ms. Moong Thi X. (born in 1994; residing in Bac Ly commune, Ky Son).

Previously, Uncle Cut Van Ba, Cut Van Hue (born in 1978 in Pha Danh commune, Ky Son) and the defendant's mother, Cut Thi Hanh (born in 1974) received sentences of 4 years and 6 months and 3 years and 6 months in prison respectively for the above crime.

Like many girls in the village, X. got married very early. At first, X. and her husband lived happily together, but since her husband started drinking, the family became increasingly unhappy. The relationship between husband and wife became increasingly conflicted as every time he got drunk, X.'s husband beat his wife, even when she was pregnant.

Defendant Cut Van Ba ​​at the trial. Photo: An Quynh

One day in April 2014, X went to the house of Cut Thi Hanh, Cut Van Ba's mother, to visit. There, X. confided in this woman about her married life. Hearing that, Hanh showed sympathy and then confided to her that if she went to China to marry another man, she would not only have a handsome new husband, but also have a comfortable life, not have to work hard but also have money to send back to her family... Hearing that, X. agreed with Hanh but set a condition that Hanh had to pay X. 30 million VND.

Seeing that the “prey” had taken the bait, Hanh asked her son, Cut Van Ba ​​(born in 1995), to find someone to take the victim to China to sell. Before that, Ba’s uncle, Cut Van Hue, had returned from China and asked Ba to find a woman to go to China to be his wife. So when he heard his mother mention the issue, Cut Van Ba ​​contacted Hue to inform her that he had found someone. However, because X. was pregnant at the time, Ba asked Hue, “Can you sell her?” The man replied, “Pregnant women cannot be sold for as much as unmarried girls, but just bring them over, and we will calculate how much they can sell for later.”

Then, Ba and Hue took X. to the bus station in Mong Cai city, Quang Ninh province.illegal border crossingto China, and handed over to a woman Hue had known before. About a month later, X. was sold to a man in China for 70,000 yuan (equivalent to 180 million VND). Cut Van Hue received 31 million VND and divided 20 million VND between Hanh and her mother, and took 11 million VND for personal expenses.

On November 10, 2018, Ms. X. fled back to Vietnam, then filed a complaint against Cut Van Hue, Cut Thi Hanh, and Cut Van Ba ​​to the Ky Son District Police. Cut Van Hue and Cut Thi Hanh were arrested by the District Police to assist in the investigation. Cut Van Ba ​​fled immediately afterwards and was wanted on January 10, 2019.

At the trial, defendant Cut Van Ba ​​admitted all his crimes. The defendant said that due to limited legal awareness, he committed the crime. The panel of judges determined that the crimes committed by defendant Cut Van Ba ​​in particular and the three defendants in general were dangerous to society, considering women as commodities for exchange and sale; directly violating the honor and dignity of Vietnamese women. Moong Thi X. was the victim, but was also partly at fault because she knew she was going to China to get married but still agreed.

Considering the case as a whole, considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances and differentiating the roles of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced Cut Van Ba ​​to 3 years and 6 months in prison.