Wife receives reduced sentence for killing husband due to extreme provocation.

(Baonghean.vn) - On the morning of October 29, the Appellate Court of the Supreme People's Court in Hanoi heard the appeal at the headquarters of the Nghean Provincial People's Court in the case of Truong Thi Bai (born in 1960, residing in Nghia Khanh commune, Nghia Dan district) for the crime of murder and reduced her sentence by one year.

According to the conclusion of the first-instance judgment, Bai's criminal act was clarified as follows: In 1984, Bai married Mr. Dang Cong Toan (born in 1961). For nearly 20 years of their marriage, they had five daughters, and their married life was relatively uneventful. However, from 2002, Mr. Toan became addicted to alcohol.

Defendant Truong Thi Bai at the trial.

When drunk, he would frequently come home, verbally abuse and physically assault his wife and children, and chase them out of the house. Many times, Ms. Bai and her children had to flee to a neighbor's house for refuge, but Mr. Toan would still go to the neighbor's house, yelling and demanding that they no longer allow Ms. Bai and her children to sleep there. Local authorities had to intervene several times, issuing fines and warnings. However, after a few days, Toan would revert to his old ways.

On the evening of February 21, 2014, Mr. Toan went out drinking and returned home completely drunk. He started yelling at his wife and demanding that she go to work on the mornings of both the 30th and 1st of Tet (Lunar New Year), threatening to "kill Bai's child eight times" if she didn't comply. Knowing her husband was drunk, Bai said, "Shut up, why are you yelling so fiercely?" Toan, exhausted, beat his wife and children and forced them to sleep in the chicken coop. Bai and her youngest child took blankets and went to sleep in the coop. Near dawn, Bai got up to cook rice, but Toan returned home drunk.

Toan verbally abused and physically assaulted his wife. Bai pushed her husband away and ran out into the street. At around 6:40 AM, Bai returned home and found her husband dozing on the bed. Seeing his wife, Toan grabbed her collar and threatened to beat her. Seeing a machete under the bed, Bai picked it up and repeatedly slashed her husband's head, causing his death. After committing the crime, Truong Thi Bai surrendered to the Nghia Dan District Police.

On July 17, the first-instance court sentenced the defendant Bai to 4 years in prison for murder. Subsequently, Bai's children, Toan's brother, and the Chief Prosecutor of the province all filed appeals and objections against the first-instance verdict.

After evaluating and reviewing the entire case, the panel of judges determined that the defendant Bai's crime stemmed from prolonged domestic violence by her husband—the victim—and was driven to extreme frustration, thus providing grounds for mitigating circumstances. The appellate court changed the charge from murder to murder committed in a state of extreme provocation and sentenced Truong Thi Bai to 3 years in prison.

Khang Hoa