Killed a friend after 3 rounds of heavy drinking
After 3 rounds of drinking from noon to late at night, a conflict broke out between Thai Van Thinh and his neighbor. In a fit of anger and losing his composure due to being drunk, Thinh took a knife and killed his drinking buddy.
Murder after 3 drinking sessions
The trial of defendant Thai Van Thinh (51 years old), residing in Tan Long commune, Tan Ky district, for the crime of “Murder” attracted public attention. From early morning, many people were present at the People’s Court of Nghe An province. Because the murder case less than half a year ago had caused a stir in public opinion. Just because of disagreeing words during a drinking session, the murder occurred, causing one person to die, and another to appear in court today.
Before the heartbreaking murder, the defendant Thinh and the victim Duong Van L. (born in 1983) were friends. Living in the same village and being friends, the two occasionally got together with a group of friends to drink a few glasses of wine. But then, when they drank, they could not keep calm, leading to inappropriate behavior. The drinking party on a night in early August 2024 was the cause of the heartbreaking murder.
Specifically, at noon on August 2, 2024, Thai Van Thinh and Mr. L. sat drinking at a bar with a group of friends. When the drinking ended, the group invited each other to play billiards. At 5:30 p.m., they invited each other to the house of a person in the group to continue drinking. At 10 p.m. that same day, almost everyone in the group was already tipsy, but L. continued to invite everyone to the area of the village cultural house to drink beer.
After about an hour of drinking, a conflict arose between Thinh and Mr. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L.
Thinh went home, saw a sharp knife (the kind used to cut fruit), so he took it and returned to the village cultural house. When they saw Thinh returning with the knife, everyone stood up and ran away, except for Mr. L. who sat there. When someone urged him to run away, Mr. L. said, "I'll sit still and see what he dares to do." At this time, Thinh took the knife and stabbed Mr. L. once in the thigh.
Seeing that, a friend pulled Mr. L. to run away. But after running about 20 meters, L. pushed his friend's hand away and turned back to pick up a beer can and threw it at Thinh but missed. Thinh took a knife and chased after Mr. L. but couldn't catch up and went home.
At that moment, Mr. L. turned around and used his belt to hit Thinh. Thai Van Thinh turned around and stabbed Mr. L. in the chest, causing the victim to die on the spot. After committing the crime, Thinh went home to tell his relatives. Afterwards, the murderer went to the police to surrender.
Painful consequences
With the above actions, Thai Van Thinh was prosecuted for "Murder". In the witness stand, the defendant stated that he and the victim had always been friends and had no conflicts. That day, while drinking, the victim had spoken contemptuously to the defendant. "The victim was younger but spoke harshly and contemptuously to the defendant in front of everyone. That made the defendant angry," the defendant stated.
When asked by the court "why did you come back with a knife when everyone tried to stop you and advised you to go home?", the defendant stated that when he got home he saw a fruit knife on the table, and because he was upset, he took the knife and came back to where everyone was sitting drinking.
The defendant stated that the victim beat him, which made him angry and led to his loss of control. In the presence of the victim’s legal representative, the defendant apologized. “I accidentally killed someone. I hope the victim’s family will forgive me for this mistake. I sincerely apologize to the victim’s family,” Thai Van Thinh regretted.
The victim’s wife came to court to request the panel of judges to try the right person and the right crime according to the law. Because the defendant’s actions had caused great loss to their family. She suddenly became a widow, and her children became fatherless.
According to the victim’s wife, Mr. Dinh Van L. was the main breadwinner in the family, earning over ten million VND per month. Mr. L.’s death was a huge mental loss for the family. She requested the defendant to pay over 500 million VND in compensation to cover funeral expenses and raise the children.
The defendant’s brother came to court to share the pain with the victim’s family. This man explained that on the night his brother committed the murder, he encouraged him to go to the police station to confess his crime. With the responsibility of a brother, he voluntarily compensated the victim’s family with 30 million VND on his brother’s behalf.
Relatives of the defendant said that Thai Van Thinh only studied until grade 1 and then dropped out. Because of his family's difficult circumstances, having many siblings and his parents dying early, Thinh worked many jobs to make a living. Although he is old, he has not started a family. In recent years, the defendant has lived with his brother's family, and has almost no assets. Since his younger brother caused the shocking incident, the older brother has been running around everywhere to compensate the victim's family for a small amount on his behalf. When attending court, this person also apologized to the victim's family and asked the court to consider reducing the sentence for his guilty younger brother.
In the presence of the court attendees, the panel of judges reminded everyone about the situation of murder after drinking beer and alcohol. There have been many heartbreaking cases that originated from drinking parties. The reasons for slashing and killing each other are often unnecessary, for no reason. Some people are injured, some die, some are imprisoned. The bitter lessons are never enough for those who use alcohol to become aggressive, and the case involving defendant Thinh is one of them.
Returning to the case, after deliberation, the panel of judges determined that the defendant's actions were particularly dangerous, committing the crime of "Murder", but also considered the victim's fault. Considering the case as a whole, the panel of judges sentenced the defendant Thai Van Thinh to 17 years in prison for the crime of "Murder". Regarding the civil part, the defendant must compensate the legal representative of the victim 479 million VND according to the agreement between the two parties.
It can be seen that the price that defendant Thai Van Thinh must pay is also a warning lesson for many people. Before each party that involves drinking beer and alcohol, each person must control their own behavior, do not let "alcohol" lead the way, and then regret it, leaving a burden on family and relatives...
