Man beats his brother-in-law to death over a dispute about building a house.
Sy complained that his brother-in-law, who worked as a carpenter making wooden doors, was working irregularly, with days off every other day. This led to an argument between the two. In a fit of anger, Sy grabbed a wooden stick and struck his brother-in-law on the head, causing his death.
On June 18th, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first-instance trial of defendant Nguyen Van Sy (born in 1984), residing in Minh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district (Nghe An province), on the charge of murder.
According to the indictment, around November 2024, Sy built a house and hired Nguyen Khac Th. (born in 1977), residing in Bai Son commune, Do Luong district, Nghe An province (who is Sy's brother-in-law married to his wife's sister), to do carpentry work and make wooden doors for the family.
Initially, Mr. Th. worked regularly, but later his work became inconsistent, with days off and days off. Because Tet (Lunar New Year) was approaching and Sy was worried about not meeting the deadline, he reminded Mr. Th., but Mr. Th. ignored him.
Furthermore, during his commute to work, Sy noticed that Mr. Th. often laughed and joked happily with his wife, which made him resentful and suspicious that his brother-in-law had feelings for his wife. However, Sy did not show any reaction or voice his suspicions.
On the morning of January 11, 2025, Mr. Th. went to Mr. Sy's house to do carpentry work as usual. Seeing Mr. Th. sitting and drinking water instead of working, Mr. Sy said, "Get up and go to work, or it'll be lunchtime." Mr. Th. replied, "Whether I work or not is none of your business."
At noon that same day, noticing that Mr. Th. had framed the door crookedly, Sy said, "Make it right, it's crooked." Sy also urged Mr. Th. to speed up the work. Hearing this, Th. replied, "If you wanted it done faster, why didn't you call someone else to do it in the first place?"
Then, an argument ensued. Mr. Th. pushed Sy away with his hand and said, "I'm not doing this anymore."
Suddenly, Sy grabbed a wooden stick and struck Th. three times in the back of the head, causing him to collapse on the spot. The victim was rushed to the hospital but died due to a fractured skull, brain hemorrhage, and brain edema.
After assaulting his brother-in-law, Sy went to the backyard and drank herbicide to commit suicide, but his family discovered him and took him to the hospital.
At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime. The defendant stated that the reason for assaulting the victim was a conflict over the slow progress of the house construction, with work being done intermittently.
Regarding the suspicion that the victim had feelings for his wife, the defendant denied it at the trial.
Following the incident, the defendant's family compensated the victim's representative with 103 million VND. The victim's side did not request any further civil compensation. However, at the trial, the victim's representative requested an additional compensation of over 230 million VND.
In the presence of the victim's representative, the defendant offered an apology and hoped for forgiveness.
Considering the defendant's actions were dangerous to society, violated the law, and constituted the crime of murder, the court sentenced Nguyen Van Sy to 19 years in prison. Regarding civil matters, the court ordered the defendant to pay an additional 200 million VND in compensation to the victim's family.
