Conversation between two death row inmates on the night of their prison break
While Tho "Sut" was busy digging into the wall, Tinh looked out of the solitary confinement cell to keep watch and poured the mortar into the toilet to destroy the evidence.
On May 8, the Hanoi People's Court will open the first instance trial of Le Van Tho (Tho "Sut", 38 years old, from Hai Duong) and Nguyen Van Tinh (29 years old, Quoc Oai district, Hanoi) for the crime of Escaping from detention under Article 386 of the 2015 Penal Code.
In connection with the case, Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan (24 years old), Nguyen Van Hanh (46 years old), Nguyen Van Viet (33 years old), Nguyen Van Ba (29 years old) were tried for the crime of Concealing a Crime under Article 389 of the Penal Code.
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Longevity (left) and Love. |
According to the indictment, on April 27, 2017, Tinh was sentenced to death by the Hanoi People's Court for the crime of illegal drug trafficking. On May 18, 2017, Le Van Tho was sentenced to death by the Ha Nam Provincial People's Court for the same crime as Tinh.
While awaiting the appeal trial, on July 1, 2017, Tinh and Tho “Sut” were transferred to the same cell in cell number 3, area D, T16 Detention Center (Ministry of Public Security). While in the cell, Tho and Tinh were both shackled on one leg with a lock and wooden shackles.
Seeing that the prison facilities were old, the wooden shackles could be removed, and the walls were made of damp bricks and mortar, Tho had the idea of escaping from the prison. On July 10, 2017, Tho told Tinh about his escape plan and asked Tinh to join him. Tinh agreed and said: "If we can get out, we will go together."
Previously, Tinh was detained in area B1 so he could observe the map and terrain of this area. Tinh said that if he wanted to leave his cell, he would climb onto the roof, slide down to the camp road, climb over the 2-meter high wall to get to the infirmary and kitchen area. The final step was to climb over the prison wall and escape to the fields outside.
During the times the prison guards opened the shackles for personal activities, Tho and Tinh saw two screws on the wall. At the same time, Tho tried shaking the wooden shackles many times, finding that he could loosen the iron bolts and pull his feet out. Tho told Tinh to pull a thread from a towel to saw a small piece of plastic from the lid of the lunch box, which would be the key to open the shackles.
With the piece of plastic, Tho ground it to fit the lock and opened Tinh's shackles. Then, Tho locked them back as before.
Prison Break Night
On September 8-9, 2017, due to the storm circulation, it rained continuously. The two agreed to escape at 10pm on September 10 and planned to get out before dawn.Then, from 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on September 10, 2017, Tho and Tinh removed the locks and shackles, tore the blanket and made a 10-meter long cloth rope.
While Tho used iron nails to drill holes in the brick wall, Tinh stood guard and alerted his accomplices if they heard the prison guards approaching. Tinh gathered all the mortar scraps and poured them into the toilet. After digging a hole big enough to crawl through, the two men left the cell, climbed up the guard tower, then swung a rope over the fence to escape from the Detention Center and escaped.
On the way to Thanh Oai district (Hanoi), Tho asked: "Where are we going now, how are we going to escape?" Tinh said: "Let me find a way to call home to get money and then continue on." Tho advised: "Don't call home", "If we don't call home, we won't know where to go, just go home to get money", Tinh replied. When they arrived at Tinh's house, the two death row inmates took money, clothes and continued to escape.
They arrived at the house of Nguyen Van Hanh, Tinh's relative in Ky Son district, Hoa Binh province at 6am. With the help of Hanh and Nguyen Van Viet (Tinh's acquaintance), the two death row inmates waited until dark and rode a motorbike to Xuan Mai town (Chuong My district). There, after receiving 7 million VND from Tinh, Tho "Sut" hired a taxi to escape to Hung Yen, Quang Ninh... then returned to Hai Duong.
On September 16, 2017, Tho "Sut" was arrested in Nam Sach district (Hai Duong) while traveling with his ex-girlfriend Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan.
Meanwhile, Tinh continued to ask another acquaintance, Nguyen Van Ba, to find a way to escape to Mai Chau, Hoa Binh. In the early morning of September 17, 2017, Tinh was arrested.
The indictment determined that Hanh, Viet and Ba knew that Tinh was sentenced to death and had escaped from prison, but they still covered for him, gave him food and drink, lent him a phone to contact him and gave him a motorbike to avoid being caught by the police. Meanwhile, Lan knew that Tho "Sut" was sentenced to death and had escaped from prison, but still helped him contact his relatives, stayed together in a motel and called a taxi for Tho "Sut" to avoid being caught by the police.
According to the prosecution, before being sentenced to death, Tho had 4 previous convictions for the crimes of: Murder, Kidnapping for the purpose of appropriating property, Illegal use of military weapons, Bribery, Abuse of trust to appropriate property, Theft of property. Tinh had a previous conviction for receiving property obtained by crime. While Tinh was recently sentenced to death by the High People's Court in Hanoi for the crime of Illegal drug trafficking, Tho "Sut" is waiting for the appellate court to consider his appeal for the same crime.
