80 year old father slashed son to death because he was scolded

On the morning of October 22, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance criminal trial of defendant Lo Van Vien (born 1939), residing in Huu Kiem commune, Ky Son district (Nghe An) for the crime of "Murder".

According to the investigation agency’s documents, at around 7:00 p.m. on June 9, 2019, Lo Van Vien went to “make a spirit” for the child of a family in Huu Kiem commune. After finishing the spirit, Vien stayed to eat, drink wine, and watch TV with the family.

Defendant Lo Van Vien. Photo: Tran Vu

At about 9 p.m. that same day, Mr. Vien went home. At that time, Lo Van V. (born in 1971, Vien's son) was home alone. Seeing his father return, he said: "When you go to their house, you have to eat and drink everything." Lo Van Vien said: "I didn't eat everything, and the wine I drank wasn't yours. I drank theirs, and I only had a couple of cups."

Then Vien continued: "If you don't get married until your parents die, who will you live with?" Mr. V. said, "If you die, die today." Mr. Vien replied: "Talking to your parents is like talking to a dog." The son continued to argue: "A dog is better than you."

Angry, Mr. Vien went into the bedroom, took a sharp knife, and slashed Mr. V. The son used his hand to strangle his father, pushing him to the floor. Mr. Vien continued to kick Mr. V. hard, causing him to fall backwards. Lo Van Vien slashed his son four more times.

Hearing the noise, many people ran to stop it, then took the victim to the hospital for emergency treatment. After that, Vien fled into the forest. At 10 pm on June 10, Lo Van Vien went to the police station to surrender.

The forensic examination results concluded that the cause of Mr. V's death was circulatory and respiratory failure due to multiple injuries that caused a skull fracture and brain hemorrhage.

At the trial, defendant Lo Van Vien admitted to all his crimes. Vien said he was angry that his son refused to get married and had not taken care of him for many years, leading to a simmering conflict. The defendant was also angry that his son called him “not even a dog,” so he used a knife to slash someone.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s actions were hooliganism. Because of a small conflict in life, he used a knife to take the life of his son. In this case, the defendant had mitigating circumstances such as his old age, his participation in the resistance war, and his honest confession.

Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced Lo Van Vien to 5 years in prison for “Murder”. As for the civil part, because the victim’s representative did not request compensation, the court did not consider it.