Girl who stabbed molester to death is freed

On September 19, Ho Chi Minh City People's Court changed the charge from Murder to Murder in a state of extreme emotional agitation against Tran Kim Ngan (23 years old), sentenced the defendant to 9 months and 16 days in prison (equal to the time in detention) and released her right in court.

This decision was made after the panel of judges based on the case file and the interrogation process in court, showed that Ngan committed the crime in a state of extreme agitation due to the victim's wrongdoing. In addition, the defendant also had many mitigating circumstances, and the penalty of the time in detention was enough of a deterrent.

Ngan was sentenced to time in detention. Photo: Binh Nguyen.

Before that, when being brought to court, Ngan cowered in the dock. The petite girl said she had met Mr. Luong through Zalo since September 2016. More than two months later, he texted her to ask her out.

According to the indictment, on the evening of November 30, 2016, Mr. Luong went to the motel to take Ngan to the empty lot behind Hue Nghiem Pagoda (District 2) to talk. The man caressed her and asked to "make love" but Ngan did not agree and pushed him away. Mr. Luong pushed her down and pulled out a knife to threaten her.

Seeing the headlights of a car passing by, Ngan tried to shout for help but the man covered her mouth and forced her to lie still or he would cut her throat.

Luong continued to molest him with force. Ngan fought back fiercely, struggled, and stabbed him in the stomach with the knife. She bit his chest and grabbed the knife to fight back. When he pulled her back, Ngan stabbed Luong again in the chest and ran out to the street to catch a taxi home.

The victim also got on his motorbike and left, but when he got near Binh Khanh market, he fell into the fence of a roadside coffee shop and died.

In her testimony to the court, Ngan said that when she escaped, she tried to find the police's phone number to call for Mr. Luong because she was afraid he was in critical condition, but she did not know the number... "The second stab wound was because I tried to run away but he still pulled me back," Ngan said, choking up and saying she was very remorseful for what happened.

When she met Mr. Luong, she did not know he was married. "When the defendant asked, he only said he lived in District 11 and did not have a girlfriend," she said.

Attending the court, Mr. Luong's mother asked the court to reduce Ngan's sentence. "I see that she is still very young. Even if she spends 10 years in prison, my child will not be brought back to life. I hope the court will reduce her sentence so that she can soon reunite with her family," she said.

Wiping away tears, Ngan apologized to the victim's family and asked the court to consider.

According to Zing