The unexpected proposal of a mother whose son was sentenced to death
After her son got into trouble with the law, Mrs. T. asked Dung to listen to information and “run” for a reduced sentence. However, the law is strict, so her son received the highest sentence. Feeling frustrated because she was cheated, she filed a complaint against Dung with the police. However, at the trial, she asked for a lighter sentence for the person who cheated her money.
The scammer's excuse
Nguyen Tien Dung (52 years old), residing in Chuong Duong ward, Hanoi city, did not have a stable job but chose to make money by fraud. Dung used his eloquence to commit the fraud in 2004. That year, Dung was sentenced by the People's Court of Nghe An province to 2 years in prison with a suspended sentence for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property.
Having committed fraud, Dung seems not to have cultivated his mind, character, or found a legitimate job. Instead, he continued to repeat his mistakes. This time, Dung committed fraud by tricking people into reducing their sentences. The victim was a person from Nghe An - Ms. Le Thi T. (66 years old), residing in Hoang Mai town.
Specifically, around mid-2022, after her son was arrested by Hanoi City Police for the crime of Illegally transporting drugs, Ms. Le Thi T. was worried and looked for a way to "run" to reduce the sentence. At this time, an acquaintance of Ms. T. introduced Dung. This person said that Dung worked at the court and could contact her to ask for a sentence reduction for her son. Hearing that, Ms. T. immediately asked someone to connect her to meet Dung.
On August 17, 2022, at a coffee shop in Hanoi, Ms. T. met Dung. Here, Ms. T. explained her son's situation and asked Dung to check the information to help reduce her son's sentence.
Although he did not work in the prosecution industry and had no ability to "run" a case, but because he needed money for personal expenses and to invest in virtual currency, Dung lied that he would help get information and could handle the sentence reduction. Dung offered 600 million VND to handle the work. Because Ms. T. trusted him, within just 1 week (from August 18 to 25, 2022), she gave Dung a total of 600 million VND many times.
After waiting for a while, in October 2022, Ms. T. met Dung to ask about the situation. At this time, Dung replied that he could not fulfill his promise. Therefore, Ms. T. asked Dung to return the money, but he did not return it.
After that, Ms. T.'s son was sentenced to death by the Hanoi People's Court for the crime of Illegally transporting drugs. Saddened by the fact that her son received the highest sentence and Dung refused to pay, on January 13, 2024, Ms. Le Thi T. filed a complaint with the police. Immediately after that, Nghe An Provincial Police urgently arrested and searched Nguyen Tien Dung's residence.
At the trial of Nguyen Tien Dung for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property, the defendant confessed to the crime. The defendant affirmed that he did not introduce himself as working in the Court sector, but that this was a misunderstanding by an acquaintance of Ms. T.
Although he knew he could not "influence" the activities of the prosecution agencies, because he needed money, Dung provided false information to appropriate Ms. T's money. Regarding the amount of money he appropriated, the defendant said he spent it on personal expenses and invested it in virtual currency.
Dung choked up and turned to where Mrs. T. was sitting to apologize, and at the same time hoped that the victim would stay healthy after the incident and come to her son. The defendant himself felt guilty and blamed himself for taking advantage of the mother while she was worried about her son to commit the crime.
Surprised by the victim's request
Attending the court as the victim, Ms. T. choked up several times when recounting the incident. She explained that because she trusted the person who introduced her and Dung, she withdrew her savings and borrowed money to raise 600 million VND within a week. After the defendant admitted that he could not handle the situation, although she repeatedly asked for the money back, the defendant did not return it, causing the victim to be upset.
However, at this time, she did not blame Dung because the entire amount had been paid by the defendant's family. She asked the jury to reduce Dung's sentence. The victim choked up and said: If possible, I would ask the court to "reduce the sentence to the minimum", not to sentence Dung to prison. I am also a mother whose child is in prison, I know how painful it is, Dung's mother is in pain like me...
Hearing the heartfelt words of the miserable mother, the defendant Dung's eyes turned red... The defendant bowed his head many times to apologize to the victim. The defendant asked the court to consider reducing the sentence so that he could soon have the opportunity to return home and take care of the victim.
During the court's deliberations, Ms. T. shed tears many times when mentioning her errant child. She was worried that she would not be healthy enough to visit her child. However, she did not forget to send her regards and encouragement to the defendant.
In response to the victim’s request not to sentence Dung to prison, the Trial Panel acknowledged that the victim’s request for a lighter sentence for the defendant was a mitigating circumstance. However, according to the presiding judge, to ensure the strictness of the law and also serve as a warning and deterrent to others, the victim’s request for “forgiveness and no imprisonment” for the defendant was not accepted. Therefore, the court sentenced defendant Nguyen Tien Dung to 7 years and 6 months in prison for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property.
The trial ended, seeing Dung being escorted out, Mrs. T. quickly stood up to send words of encouragement. After that, the nearly 70-year-old woman quietly left the court with difficulty…
