The end of a grown man who was in and out of prison three times

4th time in prison

According to relatives, in 2010, after getting married and becoming a father, Nguyen Dinh Sy was involved in a property theft case and was sentenced to 9 months in prison by the People's Court of Thanh Chuong district. Exactly 1 year after his release from prison, Sy continued to receive a 14-month prison sentence for "Resisting a person on official duty". When Sy finished serving this prison sentence, his wife gave birth to a second child. Instead of turning around and working hard to take care of his wife and children, and build a family, Sy got involved in drugs. The result of his illegal behavior was that the court sentenced Sy to 7 years in prison for the crime.“Illegal drug trafficking”in 2015.

Not long after being released from prison, Sy was back to his old ways and was arrested again for being involved in transporting more than 1.1 kg of drugs. According to the case file, on July 26, 2022, Sy was hired by a man named Tran Van Tai (residing in Vo Liet commune, Thanh Chuong district) to go to Da Cuc stream area, Thanh Thuy commune to "get the goods", promising to pay from 5 to 7 million VND. The next morning, following Tai's instructions, Sy hurriedly went to the stream area to wait for the "goods". After many hours of waiting, it was not until the afternoon that Sy saw a man bring the "goods" to deliver. After handing over the money to get the drugs, Sy took them home to hide.

Defendant Nguyen Dinh Sy was imprisoned for the fourth time with a life sentence. Photo: Tran Vu

The next day, Sy put the bag containing drugs in the trunk of the motorbike and delivered it to Tai. On the way, Sy saw the police signal to stop the vehicle so he quickly abandoned the motorbike to run away. However, the police force promptly arrested Sy, checked the trunk of the motorbike and found more than 1.1 kg of drugs. Based on Sy's statement, the police issued an emergency detention order for Tran Van Tai. At the investigation agency, Tai admitted that he asked Sy to buy golden turtles from Laotians but was unsuccessful. Tai did not admit to hiring Sy to receive the drugs, besides Sy's statement there was no other evidence so the authorities had no basis to handle Tai. Accordingly, Nguyen Dinh Sy was brought to trial for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

Burden on relatives

During the first instance criminal trial of Nguyen Dinh Sy (35 years old), residing in Thanh Thuy commune, Thanh Chuong district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking", which took place on March 15, 2023, many people could not help but feel heartbroken when witnessing the image of the defendant's elderly mother, who is nearly 70 years old this year, repeatedly covering her face and sobbing because of her sinful son. Sitting next to her was Sy's young wife. Due to mental illness, she was often unable to control her behavior and made uncontrolled statements. Therefore, the Trial Panel had to ask the court security force to take her out of the court corridor.

Although Mrs. Nguyen Thi L. (Sy's mother) was used to having to go to court to witness her "precious son" being tried for various crimes, this time she could not help but feel heartbroken because she did not know if she would ever have the chance to see her son again. Due to her old age and weak health, Mrs. L. should have been able to live a peaceful life with her children and grandchildren, but unexpectedly, her 7th son out of 9 children of the couple was caught up in sin.

When the court came to deliberation, the mother kept wiping away her tears. Perhaps she had told her son many times about her wishes and wishes. Therefore, today she could only cry helplessly. The defendant's mentally ill wife, after being blamed for her husband, also went out to the hallway and sat absent-mindedly. According to relatives, because Sy had been in prison many times, almost all the work and burdens in the family fell on the shoulders of his young wife, born in 1991. It was unclear whether it was due to family pressure or sadness about her husband being in and out of prison that the woman became mentally ill. At first, the illness was mild, but later it became more severe.

Feeling sorry for her daughter-in-law, Mrs. L. looked after her grandchildren while relatives took her to the hospital for examination and medicine. However, despite treatment, her condition did not improve, making the family's life even more difficult. The two young children had to rely on their grandparents and relatives to raise them.

The day of return is still far away

Unlike his relatives, Nguyen Dinh Sy appeared quite calm at the trial. The defendant did not admit to transporting drugs. Sy said he only helped a man named Tai "get the goods" and did not know what was inside, and only found out it was drugs when he was arrested. However, when the court asked him why he did not know there were drugs in the package but abandoned his vehicle and ran away when he encountered the police, the defendant remained silent.

During the trial, the defendant Sy did not admit to the drug trafficking as accused by the Procuracy. However, in his final statement, the defendant asked the court to consider reducing his sentence so that he could return home to take care of his mother, raise his children, and care for his mentally ill wife.

Relatives helplessly watched the defendant being led away when the trial ended. Photo: Dang Nguyen

The trial panel determined that although the defendant did not admit to the crime, however, based on the collected investigation documents, the defendant’s initial testimony, the record of the crime scene investigation… affirmed that the prosecution of the defendant for the crime of “Illegal transportation of narcotics” was the right person, the right crime. In this case, the defendant had no mitigating circumstances but had the aggravating circumstance of recidivism. After considering the whole case, the court sentenced Nguyen Dinh Sy to life in prison for the crime of “Illegal transportation of narcotics”.

With his crime, Nguyen Dinh Sy received a suitable sentence and his return is still far away. Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call for those who have gone astray, to turn back before it is too late.