The Heartless Brother and the Unfortunate Little Sister

The Brother's Cruel Plan

There have been many heartbreaking stories of greedy people tricking gullible girls into going to China. But perhaps the story of a brother tricking his 13-year-old sister into going to a foreign country to get money to build a house has caused the most public outrage and sadness.

Cut Van Dao (born in 1996), residing in Bao Nam commune, Ky Son district, is the eldest brother in a family of 4 siblings. Like many other households, Dao's family's life mainly depends on farming, so poverty and hunger are always present. In the summer of 2019, seeing that his parents' house was dilapidated, Dao wanted to renovate it. But the most difficult problem for this young man was not having money. After many nights of thinking, Dao made a "shocking" and cruel decision to sell his youngest sister Cut Thi May (born in 2005).

To carry out that plan, Dao contacted Cut Van Ut (born in 1988), residing in Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong district, to find someone to sell his sister. Through social networks, Ut got to know a woman named Van (from Nghe An, currently married and living in China). Van promised to give Ut 5 million VND if she could find someone to take her to China to sell her and would pay the seller's family 100 million VND.

After hearing her friend's story, Dao did not agree with the above amount and offered 120 million VND. However, that condition was not accepted by the woman named Van. After several rounds of bargaining, Dao agreed to sell her sister for 100 million VND.

Defendant Dao confessed to selling his sister to get money to repair the house. Photo: Tran Vu

Around the end of May 2019, Dao brought her younger sister to Ut to take her to the northern border area. Through quick exchanges between the subjects, May learned that her brother had sold her to a foreign country, so the 13-year-old girl cried and begged him to spare her, but to no avail. Unable to resist or run away, she could only silently follow the subjects who led her. After that, May was picked up by Van to China via an illegal route.

In a foreign country, after a short time living at Van's house, May was sold to a local man to be his wife for 240 million VND. Of that amount, Van only sent 85 million VND to Ut. Ut gave 80 million VND to Dao, and spent the remaining 5 million VND on personal expenses.

After receiving the money from selling her younger sister, Dao used it to build a house. At this time, Dao's parents were shocked to learn that their youngest daughter had been sold to China by her older brother to marry. Although they missed their daughter and scolded their son in every way, the family had no way to resolve the matter.

A cry for help from across the border

Speaking of the victim, after a period of being a wife in a foreign country, because of being strictly controlled and forced to do hard labor, Cut Thi May always tried to contact her family. According to the victim's statement shown in the case file, in July 2020, May called home for help on Zalo but was discovered by her husband's family in China. Since then, her husband's family has confiscated her phone and has not allowed her to contact the outside world. Also after that call for help, May's daily activities have always been closely monitored. Living in a suffocating situation, the girl sought more ways to be rescued.

In December 2020, through a report, the Nghe An Provincial Police Investigation Agency in coordination with the Blue Dragon Children's Organization successfully rescued May. After reuniting with her family, May filed a complaint with the police. Cut Van Dao and Cut Van Ut were arrested and prosecuted for "Trafficking in persons under 16 years old". It is known that May was only 13 years, 11 months, and 11 days old at the time of being sold.

The victim was trafficked to a foreign country when she was rescued by authorities. Photo: Tran Vu

On the day Dao and his accomplices appeared in court, not a single relative attended. When asked by the jury about the motive for the crime, the defendant Dao said it was to get money to build a house. “My family has 4 siblings, May is the youngest daughter. Because the house was too old and dilapidated, I needed money to build a new house, so I sold May to get money to build a house,” Dao confessed in court. The court said that the defendant’s actions were condemnable, and whatever the reason, it was unacceptable.

Defendant Dao also stated that after selling her sister, she felt very regretful. “At first, my parents scolded me a lot. I also felt I was wrong, but because it was too late, I could only apologize to my sister,” Dao stated, adding that to partially compensate for her sister’s mental damage, she gave 18 million VND. “I know my mistake was very big, I respectfully ask the jury to reduce my sentence so that I have a chance to return and start my life over,” Dao stated in her final statement.

Defendant Ut also admitted to selling people for profit and asked for a chance to correct his mistake. The panel of judges determined that the actions of the two defendants were particularly dangerous to society. Because of greed, the two defendants sold the victim when she was only 13 years old. Therefore, a severe punishment is needed to serve as a deterrent and general prevention.

Considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced Cut Van Ut to 13 years in prison and Cut Van Dao to 12 years in prison for the crime of “Trafficking in persons under 16 years old”. Regarding the civil part, the court ordered the two defendants to compensate the victim 40 million VND.

*The victim's name has been changed.