76 year old woman was slashed by neighbor at midnight

On June 9, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened the first instance criminal trial of Nguyen Van Tinh (born 1976), residing in Binh Hanh hamlet, Nghia Binh commune (Nghia Dan district) for the crime of "Murder".

The indictment shows that, locally, Nguyen Van Tinh and Mrs. Tran Thi S. (born in 1943) were next-door neighbors. Every day, Tinh often went to Mrs. S.'s house to play and tease her, so Mrs. S. insulted Tinh. However, Tinh did not react at that time.

At about 9:10 p.m. on December 2, 2019, Tinh stood in front of his house gate and remembered the times when Mrs. S. cursed and insulted him, so he went into the house to get a knife and went to his neighbor's house. When he arrived, he saw the gate was locked. Tinh climbed up the fence to get into Mrs. S.'s garden. While Tinh was standing on the fence preparing to jump down, Mrs. S. was using a flashlight to catch snails in the garden in front of the house. Seeing Tinh holding a knife, Mrs. S. immediately cried out "Oh my god" and went into the yard.

Defendant Nguyen Van Tinh. Photo: Tran Vu

Tinh jumped down and went into Mrs. S.’s yard and said, “You keep talking… whoever did it will have to take responsibility, don’t tell the whole family.” After saying that, Tinh took a knife and slashed Mrs. S.’s head. Because the children were playing inside, Mrs. S. shouted, “Children, run away!” Then Tinh slashed again, causing the victim to collapse on the yard. After that, Tinh went inside the house and slashed the fan and TV before returning home.

At the time of the incident, Ms. S.’s two grandchildren hid in the inner room so they were not slashed by Tinh. After learning that Tinh had left, the children called their relatives to inform them of the incident. The victims were taken to the emergency room by their relatives but died later. Ms. S.’s cause of death was determined to be a fractured skull, a fractured brain, and a brain hemorrhage.

After learning of his neighbor’s death, Nguyen Van Tinh turned himself in to the police. In court, the defendant admitted his crime and asked for a lighter sentence. After the incident, the defendant’s family compensated the victim’s representative more than 43 million VND.

The investigation agency determined that in this case, the defendant committed a crime against a person aged 70 or older, which is considered an aggravating circumstance. The defendant's honest confession, his family's contributions to the revolution, and his voluntary efforts to help the victim's family are mitigating circumstances. Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced Nguyen Van Tinh to life in prison for "Murder". Regarding the civil part, the defendant was ordered to compensate the victim's family representative 50 million VND.

It is known that defendant Tinh was twice punished by Nghia Dan District People's Court for the crime of "Theft of property".