Man who electrocuted someone on Lam River has sentence reduced

On the morning of November 27, at the People's Court of Nghe An province, the High People's Court in Hanoi opened a criminal appeal trial of Tran Van Hoa (35 years old), residing in Lien Minh commune, Duc Tho district (Ha Tinh) for the crime of "Murder".

The indictment of the People's Procuracy stated that on the morning of October 1, 2018, Tran Van Hoa and his wife, along with his brother Tran Van Sinh and his wife, from Duc Tho district, went by boat on Lam River to catch seafood. When this group of people arrived at the alluvial area in Hamlet 5, Hung Nhan Commune, Hung Nguyen District, they had a conflict with Mr. Ho Duc Troi. Believing that this group of people had encroached on the alluvial area managed by his family, Mr. Troi took Mr. Sinh's fishing net basket and smashed it against the side of the boat, then threw it into the river.

Defendant Tran Van Hoa at the appeal hearing. Photo: Tran Vu

Seeing that, Hoa picked up a piece of wood and hit Mr. Troi twice on the back and chased him into the river. When Mr. Troi grabbed a wooden stake to hit him, Hoa picked up an electric fishing net and pressed the metal end of the rod against the victim. Mr. Troi was electrocuted, fell into the boat and died later. The next day, Tran Van Hoa went to the police to confess.

At the first instance trial held in February 2019, Tran Van Hoa was sentenced to 19 years in prison for “Murder”. In terms of civil matters, the court ordered the defendant to compensate the victim’s family 170 million VND and provide monthly support for the victim’s two children, 1 million VND/child, until they reach adulthood.

Disagreeing with the above sentence, both the defendant and the victim filed an appeal. While the defendant filed a petition for a reduced sentence, the victim filed a petition for an increased sentence for the defendant Hoa.

At the trial, giving the reasons for the appeal, Hoa presented in detail his surrender, confessed honestly and compensated the victim’s family for part of the loss. In the presence of the court, the defendant’s wife gave the victim’s wife 50 million VND.

The panel of judges determined that the victim’s request to increase the defendant’s sentence was unfounded. At the trial, the defendant’s honest confession and the victim’s family’s active compensation were mitigating circumstances. Therefore, the court accepted the defendant’s appeal and revised the first instance sentence from 19 years to 18 years in prison for Tran Van Hoa for the crime of “Murder”.