The young man appeared in court 3 times, cried and 'apologized to his parents' after receiving a life sentence

One day at the end of August, Le Tien Tinh (born 1993), residing in Quynh Xuan ward, Hoang Mai town, appeared in court for the crime of “Illegal possession of narcotics”. Wearing a light-colored plaid shirt, Tinh looked younger than when he was arrested.

Although he is 26 years old, this is the third time this young man has stood before the witness stand. In 2014 and 2016, Tinh appeared in court for the crimes of “Illegal drug trafficking” and “Illegal drug possession”. The total sentence for the two previous sentences that Tinh had to serve was 60 months in prison.

Defendant Le Tien Tinh in court. Photo: Tran Vu

In September 2018, Tinh was released from prison early. Returning to his hometown after serving time in prison, Tinh received financial support from his family to rent a booth and start a pawn business. However, after 6 months of reintegrating into society, Tinh fell back into crime, also related to "white goods".

The reason why Tinh committed this crime was from meeting a fellow prisoner again. Accordingly, on the afternoon of March 26, 2019, Tinh took 40 million VND and took a bus to Tinh Gia district (Thanh Hoa) to buy a pet dog. When he arrived, Tinh accidentally met a fellow prisoner again. After a few questions, knowing that Tinh was still "using drugs", his friend immediately suggested buying drugs to sell. This person promised to "get a cheap price if Tinh bought a large quantity".

After a moment of hesitation, Tinh decided to buy 1 kg of crystal meth for 150 million VND, but only paid 40 million VND in advance, and deferred the rest. When he got home, Tinh took out some of the drugs to use and then divided them into 4 small plastic bags and put them in a glass cabinet for later use. Tinh carefully wrapped the remaining drugs.

On the evening of March 27, Tinh took drugs to Thai Hoa town. At about 11:45 p.m. the same day, Tinh went to National Highway 48 in Nghia Thuan commune to catch a bus home, but was administratively checked by the police and discovered in his bag drugs with a weight of 918.75 grams of Methamphetamine. Conducting an emergency search of the rented room that Tinh rented in block 5, Quynh Xuan ward, the police discovered 4 more plastic bags containing drugs, with a total weight of 1.08 grams.

Evidence of the case (documentary photo)

On the day Le Tien Tinh appeared in court, only a few relatives attended. Among them was a young aunt. She also did not understand why Tinh's parents did not come to see their son even though they had known the trial schedule beforehand. As if wanting to encourage her erring nephew, the aunt tried to appear calm, answering Tinh's questions about his relatives.

However, when Tinh turned around, the woman quickly lowered her head and wiped away the tears that were about to fall.

As the eldest of three children, Tinh was given the opportunity to study by his parents. However, after the sixth grade, Tinh dropped out of school. Born early, the young man could not overcome the pitfalls of society. At the age of 21, Tinh officially entered the prison and has been stuck in that cycle ever since.

In court, the defendant confessed that he was addicted to crystal meth. After being released from prison for the second time, he returned to his hometown and rented a small kiosk to work as a pawnbroker. When his business gradually stabilized, he went to Thanh Hoa to buy a pet dog. But unexpectedly, on that fateful trip, he met his cellmate again.

With an old friend “caring” for him and selling him drugs at a low price, Tinh decided to buy the “goods” on credit to use gradually and sell for profit. However, Tinh’s actions did not escape the police’s notice.

In response to the court’s question, “You have been in prison twice for drugs, why did you reoffend?”, Tinh bowed his head, remained silent, and appeared remorseful. The court analyzed that the defendant was young, and after his repeated mistakes, he should have taken them as a lesson to correct himself, rebuild his life, and show filial piety to his family. However, the defendant reoffended dangerously shortly after his release from prison, demonstrating his disregard for the law.

In this case, the defendant had some mitigating circumstances such as, honestly confessed, family had people who contributed to the revolution; Previously, Tinh had helped a person in a traffic accident, which was confirmed by the local authorities. Considering the case comprehensively, the panel sentenced Le Tien Tinh to life in prison for "Illegal possession of narcotics". Hearing the sentence, the defendant's face was quite panicked, because before that, the People's Procuracy had only recommended Tinh a sentence of 20 years in prison.

Tears rolled down Tinh’s face as she left the court. As she passed by her relatives, the defendant only had time to say, “Let me apologize to my parents.”

If the previous sentences let Tinh know the date of return, then with this sentence, will this young man be able to return in time to show his gratitude to his parents and relatives when the date of return is still far away?