The painful ending of a late love

When love is blind

Having an unhappy marriage, often beaten to the point of death by her abusive husband, in 2007, Ms. Duong Thi C. (born in 1969, residing in Nghia Hop commune, Tan Ky) divorced and lived with her 2 children. It seemed that Ms. C.'s life would turn to a new, happier page, but, just because of theemotional conflictwith the lover who took her life.

Ms. Duong Thi C.'s two children have grown up and gone to the South to work. For many years, she has lived alone in a small house right next to Ho Chi Minh Road. Every day, she goes to teach at Phu Son Kindergarten (Tan Ky), about 30 km from her home, so she is rarely at home and usually stays in a private house near her workplace.

Subject Nguyen Huu Son at the District Police Investigation Agency. Photo: An Quynh

Life went on peacefully until 2016, when the public started gossiping about her having an affair with Mr. Nguyen Huu Son (born in 1965, residing in Nghia Dong commune, Tan Ky district, Nghe An). Mr. Son was in the same situation as Ms. C., having divorced his wife a long time ago, had no children and had been single for many years.

Everyone around also commented that Mr. Son is a gentle person, a pure farmer. Therefore, when information was released that Ms. C. and Mr. Son were getting to know each other, the local people were very supportive, they wished for a happy ending for this troubled old love.

However, no one could have imagined that such a gentle and simple man would one day cruelly harm the woman he loved with cruel stabs. After a period of love, conflicts often arose between the two sides, causing their feelings to gradually fray.

Ms. Duong Thi C. wanted to break up, but Mr. Son did not agree. After many unsuccessful attempts to resolve the matter, the conflict simmered and built up, leading to the heartbreaking incident. Accordingly, at about 1:30 a.m. on July 3, 2017, Mr. Son came to Ms. C.'s house to talk about love.

Here, there was a conflict and argument between the two sides when Mr. Son wanted to go further in this relationship, but Ms. C. wanted to break up. Thinking that Ms. C. was deceiving his feelings and had feelings for someone else, Nguyen Huu Son ran into the kitchen, took a straw knife that Ms. C. often used, then rushed in and slashed Ms. C.'s face.

Despite the victim screaming in pain and trying to resist, those actions only further provoked Mr. Son, causing him to continue swinging the knife, slashing the victim repeatedly, causing the victim to die shortly after. After committing the crime, Son threw the knife at the scene, calmly locked the door, and went home.

At 6 a.m. the same day, not seeing Duong Thi C. wake up early as usual, Ms. Nguyen Thi Th., the victim's biological mother, who lives next door, went to call her daughter and was shocked to discover that her daughter had died at home with many slash wounds on her body, so she called the neighbors for help.

The incident was immediately reported to Tan Ky District Police. Upon receiving the news, Tan Ky District Police quickly arrived at the scene. Determining that this was a very serious murder, the District Police coordinated with the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province Police to establish a crime scene investigation and autopsy committee to investigate and clarify the cause of the murder.

The house where the murder took place. Photo: An Quynh

Through initial verification and examination of the scene, the police determined that Ms. Duong Thi C. died at around 2:00 a.m. There were a total of 23 slashes on the victim's body. The police also recovered a bloody knife, which was the tool used to commit the crime.

The case investigator said: The incident happened late at night, and teacher C. lived alone in a house in a deserted area, so initially, there were certain difficulties in identifying the perpetrator. The reason for the crime, whether it was a sudden conflict or robbery, is also not an easy question to answer.

However, at around 10am the same day, using professional measures, the police quickly identified the perpetrator as none other than Nguyen Huu Son, the victim's lover.

After collecting sufficient evidence to prove the crime, the police force urgently arrested the suspect for murder. At the police station, faced with undeniable evidence and the sharp arguments of the investigators, Son had to bow his head and admit his guilt.

The pain remains

Although a long time has passed, when recalling it, Ms. Nguyen Thi Th., the biological mother of teacher C., still cannot control her emotions: Ms. C. is the third child in a family of four sisters, most of whom are teachers. Ms. C. graduated from school and has been teaching under contract for more than 20 years and has only been on the payroll for more than a year, up to the time of the incident. According to Ms. Th., on the night of the incident, she went to her daughter's house and asked her to sleep at her mother's house, but Ms. C. refused because she had to look after livestock and poultry. "That night, my intuition told me that something bad had happened, so I tossed and turned all night, restless and unable to sleep. Early in the morning, when the sky was just getting light, I rushed to my daughter's house and the heartbreaking incident happened," said Ms. Th.

Through our investigation, we learned that teacher Duong Thi Ch. had a relatively difficult situation and a troubled love life. After getting married and having children, Ms. C. had an unhappy marriage, often being beaten to the point of death by her abusive husband.

After that, the husband left without a trace and in 2007, Ms. C. was granted a divorce by the Tan Ky District People's Court, even though her husband was not present.

A local resident added: Ms. Duong Thi C. has been teaching away from home for many years and only comes home on weekends. During her time living in the area, Ms. C. is a gentle person and often participates in village and neighborhood activities.

After the divorce, Ms. C. had two sons who both lived with their mother. The older son unfortunately fell into trouble and was in trouble with the law and is currently serving a sentence in prison. The second son worked far away in the South. About a week before the incident, Ms. C. had just gone to the South to hold a wedding for her son at the company.

She planned to hold a party to announce the good news to her neighbors after returning home, but before she could do so, the heartbreaking incident happened. According to her colleagues, Ms. C. is a good teacher, a role model, loved by her students and trusted by her colleagues, despite being a contract teacher.

On August 5, 2018, the trial of Nguyen Huu Son for murder took place quite quickly. The trial was attended mainly by the victim’s family. With two gray hairs, at the trial, defendant Nguyen Huu Son bowed his head and repented for his actions. “Because of blind love, a moment of lack of control over his actions, the defendant caused the death of his lover,” the defendant explained.

It is known that Nguyen Huu Son got married and lived abroad for nearly 20 years but had no children so they divorced. After that, he returned to his hometown to live and fell in love with a kindergarten teacher. Mr. Son's life was not lucky, so when he heard Mrs. C. say she wanted to live together, it gave him hope for a simple, happy family. However, after that time, when Son mentioned living together again, Mrs. C. said "it was just a joke". Hearing that, Son felt disappointed and offended, leading to the heartbreaking incident.

Defendant Nguyen Huu Son had almost no relatives at the trial. Photo: An Quynh

When given the last word, defendant Nguyen Huu Son apologized to the deceased, his two children and the victim's relatives. The defendant is ready to accept the punishment of the law but hopes the panel of judges will consider reducing the sentence and civil compensation because he himself is in prison, and his brother and sister both suffer from mental illness and have no money to pay compensation.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant Nguyen Huu Son committed a crime of hooliganism, dangerous to society, and that his criminal behavior was especially serious. His actions not only caused mental and emotional pain and loss to the victim's family, but also affected the security and order situation in the area, so the defendant needed to be isolated from social life. Considering the entire case on the basis of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel sentenced Nguyen Huu Son to life in prison for murder. In addition, the defendant is responsible for compensating the victim nearly 160 million VND and providing 1.5 million VND per month to the victim's biological mother.