Killed lover because they couldn't live together

On July 20, the Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of Nguyen Huu Son (born 1965), residing in Nghia Dong commune, Tan Ky district, for murder.

Nguyen Huu Son and Ms. Duong Thi C. (born in 1969) residing in Nghia Hop commune, Tan Ky had a romantic relationship with each other. Ms. C. repeatedly promised that on June 9, 2017, she would let Son live with her. After that time, when Son mentioned living together again, Ms. C. said it was just a joke and repeatedly refused Son's feelings.

Defendant Nguyen Huu Son at trial. Photo: Nhu Binh

On the evening of July 2, 2017, Son came to Mrs. C's house and continued to talk about moving in together. This man over 50 years old begged his lover not to leave him, but Mrs. C said Son was nagging and chased him away, and announced that she would be banned from the house from tomorrow.

Hearing his lover say that, thinking that in the past, Mrs. C. had deceived him and had feelings for someone else, when he saw the knife at the bedside, Nguyen Huu Son picked it up and slashed her head, face, and body many times.

After committing the crime, Son rode his motorbike home to change clothes and called someone to report the incident, but his phone ran out of money. He then went to Tan Ky District Police to confess. When the police arrived at Ms. Chung’s house, they found the woman dead.

The police investigation agency requested a forensic psychiatric examination of Nguyen Huu Son. The Central Institute of Forensic Psychiatry concluded that at the time of the crime and at the time of the examination, Nguyen Huu Son suffered from a debilitating mental illness. At the above times, Nguyen Huu Son had the capacity to perceive and control his behavior.

At the trial, Nguyen Huu Son admitted to all the crimes as stated in the indictment, and apologized to the victim's relatives. Son justified his actions by saying that he had high hopes but was rejected by Ms. C., so he was disappointed and could not control his actions.

Considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel sentenced Nguyen Huu Son to life in prison. In addition, the defendant is responsible for compensating the victim’s two children nearly 160 million VND and providing monthly allowances of 1.5 million VND to Ms. C’s mother.