Taking a hunting gun to catch frogs, the bullet accidentally exploded, killing your father.

Ha Van Tam at the trial. Photo: Phuong Hao

According to the indictment, at about 6:30 p.m. on April 28, 2020, Ha Van Tam called and invited Mr. Ngan Van Anh, who lived in the same neighborhood, to go frog hunting, and Mr. Anh agreed. Then Tam asked Anh, "Do you want to bring a gun?" Anh replied, "Take me to see a weasel and I will shoot it," so Tam took the gun.flintlock gunTam bought it from Laos in 2015, along with 3 homemade bullets. Tam loaded a bullet into the barrel and brought the gun to the house of Mr. Ngan Van Minh (born in 1969), Ngan Van Anh's father, to go frog hunting with Anh.

When he passed by Mr. Minh's house, Anh was taking a bath, so Tam sat waiting on the second step in front of Mr. Minh's house. While waiting, Tam placed the gun butt on the ground, clamped the butt with both ankles, placed the gun barrel on his shoulder facing up, the trigger facing inward, and the hammer facing outward.

At this time, Mr. Minh walked towards Tam and stood opposite to ask Tam to fix the flashlight. A moment later, Mr. Minh stepped up the steps to enter the kitchen, but his foot got caught in Tam's knee, causing Mr. Minh to lose his balance, slide his body towards Tam, and Mr. Minh's right foot stepped between Tam's legs, which were holding the gun, hitting the hammer of the homemade flintlock gun, causing the gun to explode, and the bullet hit Mr. Minh's right temple.

Victim's family at the trial. Photo: Phuong Hao

Seeing that, Tam called Anh and said, "Brother, your father stepped on a hammer and hit a bullet in the body. Come take him to the hospital." At the same time, he called his younger brother, Ha Van Cuong (born in 1994), to go to Mr. Minh's house to bring the homemade flintlock gun and 2 bullets, a plastic box containing 3 seeds (suspected to be explosive seeds) and a plastic box containing a gray powder suspected to be (propellant) to take home to hide. Cuong then handed over these exhibits to the Investigation Police Department of Tan Ky District Police.

Due to the seriousness of his injuries, Mr. Minh died on the way to the emergency room. On April 29, 2020, realizing that his actions were illegal, Tam went to the Tan Ky District Police Investigation Agency to surrender.
The forensic conclusion said the cause of Mr. Ngan Van Minh's death was due to a perforated, fractured skull, brain contusion, and hemorrhage due to a penetrating bullet.
During the investigation, Tam influenced the family to compensate Mr. Ngan Van Minh with money and in kind, totaling 32.2 million VND. Now, the court requires Tam to compensate 112.8 million VND.
In addition to this crime, Tam also committed the act of illegally storing explosives and NC propellant belonging to the group of explosives with a mass of 1.325 grams and a homemade gun belonging to the hunting gun category. However, the act of illegally storing hunting guns, explosives and NC propellant belonging to the groupexplosivesnot to the extent of being prosecuted.

On the other hand, Tam has not been administratively sanctioned nor convicted of the crime of illegally manufacturing, storing, transporting, using, trading or appropriating hunting guns, primitive weapons, sports weapons or support tools, so the Investigation Police Agency has issued a Decision to sanction Tam for this administrative violation.
At the end of the trial, the panel sentenced Ha Van Tam to 18 months in prison.