The heartless older brother and the unfortunate younger sister.

The brother's cruel plan

There have been many heartbreaking stories of greedy individuals selling naive and trusting girls to China. But perhaps the story of a brother selling his sister, who is more than 13 years older than him, to a foreign country for money to build a house has caused the most outrage and sorrow among the public.

Cụt Văn Dao (born in 1996), residing in Bảo Nam commune, Kỳ Sơn district, is the eldest of four siblings. Like many other households, Dao's family's life mainly depends on farming, so poverty and hunger constantly plague them. In the summer of 2019, seeing that his parents' house was old and dilapidated, Dao wanted to renovate it. But the biggest problem for this young man was the lack of money. After many nights of contemplation, Dao made a shocking and cruel decision: to sell his youngest sister, Cụt Thị Mây (born in 2005).

To carry out his plan, Dao contacted Cụt Văn Út (born in 1988), residing in Xá Lượng commune, Tương Dương district, to find someone to sell his sister. Through social media, Út learned about a woman named Vân (from Nghệ An province, currently married and living in China). Vân promised Út 5 ​​million VND if he could find someone to sell her in China and would pay the seller's family 100 million VND.

After hearing her friend's account, Dao disagreed with the initial price and offered 120 million dong instead. However, the woman named Van did not accept this condition. After several rounds of bargaining, Dao agreed to sell her sister for 100 million dong.

Defendant Dao confessed to selling her younger sister to get money to renovate her 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 traffickers, May realized she was being sold into slavery abroad by her brother. The 13-year-old girl cried and begged him to spare her, but to no avail. Unable to resist or escape, she could only silently follow the traffickers. Later, May was picked up by Van and taken to China via an unofficial border crossing.

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

After receiving the money from selling her younger sister, Dao used it to build a house. It was then that Dao's parents were shocked to learn that their youngest daughter had been sold to China by her older brother. Although they missed their daughter terribly and scolded their son in every way possible, the damage was done and there was nothing the family could do to resolve the situation.

A plea for help from across the border.

Regarding the victim, after a period of marriage in a foreign land, due to strict control and forced labor, Cụt Thị Mây constantly tried to contact her family. According to the victim's statement in the case file, in July 2020, Mây used the Zalo app to call home for help, but her husband's family in China discovered it. From then on, her phone was confiscated by her husband's family, preventing her from contacting the outside world. Following that plea for help, Mây's daily activities were closely monitored. Living in such suffocating conditions, she became even more desperate to be rescued.

In December 2020, following a tip-off, 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. The two suspects, Cut Van Dao and Cut Van Ut, were arrested and prosecuted for "Trafficking in persons under 16 years of age." It is known that at the time of her sale, May was only 13 years, 11 months, and 11 days old.

The victim was trafficked abroad at the time of her rescue by authorities. Photo: Tran Vu

On the day Dao and her accomplices appeared in court, not a single family member was present. When questioned by the judges about her motive for committing the crime, defendant Dao testified that she did it to get money to build a house. “My family has four siblings, May is the youngest daughter. Because the house was so old and dilapidated, we needed money to build a new one, so I sold May to get the money for the house,” Dao confessed in court. The court stated that the defendant's actions were reprehensible, regardless of the reason, and were unacceptable.

Defendant Dao also stated that after selling her younger sister, she felt deep remorse. “Initially, my parents scolded me a lot. I also realized I was wrong, but since it was too late, all I could do was apologize to my sister,” Dao testified, adding that to partially compensate for her sister's emotional distress, she gave her 18 million VND. “I know my mistake is very serious, and I respectfully request the court to reduce my sentence so that I have a chance to return and rebuild my life,” Dao stated in her final words.

Defendant Ut also admitted to selling people for profit and asked for a chance to make amends. The court determined that the actions of the two defendants were particularly dangerous to society. Driven by greed, the two defendants sold the victim when she was only 13 years old. Therefore, a severe punishment is necessary to serve as a deterrent and prevent similar crimes in the future.

Considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel of judges sentenced Cụt Văn Út to 13 years in prison and Cụt Văn Dao to 12 years in prison for the crime of "Trafficking in persons under 16 years of age". Regarding civil matters, the court ordered the two defendants to compensate the victim 40 million VND.

*The victim's name has been changed.