Father who threw 7-day-old daughter down a well was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

On July 31, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Truong Van Dat (born 1997), residing in Dong Ban village, Dong Hop commune, Quy Hop district, for the crime of "Murder". The victim in the case is the defendant's young child, who has not yet obtained a birth certificate.

According to the investigation agency's documents, Dat and Nguyen Thi H. (born 1996) got married in January 2019. On March 15, Ms. Hong gave birth to her first child by cesarean section at the hospital.

Defendant Truong Van Dat at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

At around 6pm on March 22, after being discharged from the hospital and returning home, Dat's family organized dinner. Ms. H. ate dinner separately and looked after her daughter in the couple's bedroom. After dinner, Dat went into the bedroom to put on more clothes to go buy medicine. Discovering that the 500,000 VND that he had left in his pocket earlier was gone, Dat asked his wife, but Ms. H. said she did not take it.

The couple argued. Dat opened the wardrobe again and searched the bag but still couldn't find any money. Dat slapped H., H. ran out the kitchen door crying. Dat went inside and saw his daughter lying on the bed crying, so he carried her out the front door. A relative said: "Why are you carrying a newborn baby out here?" Hearing that, Dat carried his daughter in.

Seeing his daughter still crying, Dat continued to carry her out into the yard and walked towards the family well. As he walked, Dat said, “Do you consider money more important than human life?” Dat dropped the girl into the well and went into the house.

A moment later, Dat took off his shoes and took his phone from his pocket on the bed and went to the well with the intention of getting his daughter out. At that moment, someone stopped him so he went back into bed and closed the door. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Xuan, Dat's mother, called everyone to come and save the child but when they pulled her out, the girl was dead.

At the trial, Dat confessed his crime. The defendant said that because he suspected his wife of taking 500,000 VND and suspected that the newborn child was not his, he threw the child down the well.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant's actions were condemnable, having taken the life of a young child. However, considering the defendant's mitigating circumstances such as his honest confession, good character, poor cognitive level; the defendant's wife, who is also the victim's mother, petitioned for a reduced sentence for Dat. The panel of judges sentenced Truong Van Dat to 20 years in prison for "Murder".