Compensation of 300 million, murderer's sentence reduced by 1/3

On March 26, the High People's Court in Hanoi opened a criminal appeal trial to try the murder case against Nguyen Thanh Ngoc (born in 1975), residing in Phong Thinh commune, Thanh Chuong.

According to the indictment, on the evening of February 8, 2017, when he learned that Nguyen Dinh Dan had slapped his nephew three times, Ngoc asked for his phone number to call Dan to talk. Afterwards, Dan and a man named Long - an acquaintance of Ngoc's - went to Ngoc's shop to make peace. There, Dan held a knife, cursed and threatened to "kill" him.

The two sides argued loudly with each other. Ngoc ran into the bedroom, took a gun, ran out to the front of the shop, pointed it at Dan and declared, "If anyone cuts me again, I'll shoot."

Nguyen Thanh Ngoc at the trial. Photo: Nhu Binh

Seeing Mr. Dan holding a knife up, Ngoc pulled the trigger, shooting Dan, causing the victim to die on the way to the emergency room. After committing the crime, Ngoc went to the investigation agency to surrender.

In the first instance trial on July 5, 2017, Nghe An Provincial People's Court sentenced Nguyen Thanh Ngoc to 9 years in prison for "Murder", forcing the defendant to compensate the victim Nguyen Dinh Dan's family 122 million VND for mental damage, provide monthly support for the victim's 2 children 800,000 VND/child and provide 300,000 VND/person/month for Dan's parents.

Nguyen Thanh Ngoc has filed an appeal to reduce his sentence and compensation. The legal representative of the victim also filed an appeal to increase Nguyen Thanh Ngoc's sentence to life imprisonment, increase child support for his two children, and provide Dan's parents with 2 million VND/person/month.

After the incident, Ngoc’s family compensated the victim’s family 50 million VND. After the first instance trial ended, through the enforcement agency, Ngoc’s family compensated the victim an additional 20 million VND.

At the trial, after a long period of negotiation between the two parties, Nguyen Thanh Ngoc accepted the one-time compensation of 300 million VND offered by the victim. The victim's legal representative withdrew the appeal requesting an increase in the prison sentence, asking the panel of judges to consider reducing Nguyen Thanh Ngoc's sentence to 5 years in prison.

Taking note of the compensation agreement between the two parties, based on a comprehensive review of the case, the opinions of the representative of the High People's Procuracy, and the opinions of the legal representative of the victim, the panel of judges accepted the appeal and reduced the sentence for Nguyen Thang Ngoc from 9 years to 6 years in prison. The defendant was ordered to pay a one-time compensation of 300 million VND (subtracted from the 70 million VND previously paid in compensation) to the victim.