Sentence reduced for woman who sold 15-year-old girl to China

On November 27, at the People's Court of Nghe An province, the High People's Court in Hanoi opened a criminal appeal trial of defendant Moong Thi Mui (born in 1988), residing in Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of "Buying and selling children". The trial was opened due to the defendant's appeal for a reduced sentence.

According to the indictment, in early 2016, Mui was at home when a woman named Tan (living in La Ngan village, Chieu Luu commune) who had married a Chinese man came to talk about finding someone to take to China to sell. Tan said that if she took one person to China, she would receive 20 million VND. Blinded by the large sum of money, Mui agreed.

Defendant Moong Thi Mui. Photo: Tran Vu

In November 2016, Mui came to Lu Thi Ch.'s house (born 2001), who lives in the same village, and invited her to marry a Chinese man, saying that she would have a prosperous life, and her parents at home would receive 100 million VND. With little education and little understanding, the girl agreed.

A few days later, Mui took a bus to take Ch. across the border to China through an illegal route. In the foreign country, Tan picked them both up and took them home. Ten days later, Tan sold Ch. to a local man for 60,000 yuan (equivalent to 140 million VND) and gave Mui 120 million VND. Upon returning to Vietnam, Mui gave 100 million VND to Ch.'s parents.

Speaking of the victim, after a period of hardship, on November 24, 2018, she decided to escape back to her home country. On December 10, 2018, the authorities discovered Moong Thi Mui's child trafficking and arrested her. The investigation agency determined that at the time of her sale, Lu Thi Ch. was only 15 years, 3 months, and 20 days old.

The first instance trial of Moong Thi Mui for “Trafficking in Children” took place in July 2019 and sentenced the defendant to 9 years in prison. The defendant later appealed for a reduction in her sentence.

At this trial, the defendant presented his difficult circumstances and lack of knowledge of the law. The defendant also claimed that the victim had agreed to go to China to get married. Attending the trial, the victim’s father said that he had received 100 million VND from the defendant, so he asked the court to reduce Mui’s sentence.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s actions were dangerous to society. However, in this case, the victim was also partly at fault for agreeing to go to China. In addition, the victim had filed a petition for a reduction in the defendant’s sentence. Therefore, the court accepted part of the defendant’s appeal and revised the first instance sentence from 9 years to 8 years for Moong Thi Mui for the crime of “Trafficking in children”.