Psychiatric evaluation for inmate who murdered fellow prisoner.

(Baonghean.vn) - After three days of deliberation, on the afternoon of March 19, the Provincial People's Court adjourned the trial to allow Phan Cong Trong (born in 1981, from Tan Ky district) to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

According to the indictment, in 2008, Phan Cong Trong was sentenced by the Provincial People's Court to 20 years in prison for illegally trafficking narcotics and was transferred to serve his sentence at Prison No. 6 – Ministry of Public Security (located in Thanh Chuong district).

The defendant in court

In mid-August 2014, Phan Cong Trong and two other inmates, Nguyen Trong Khanh and Tran Duc Long, were taken to the Provincial General Hospital for treatment. Around 2 PM on August 17, 2014, due to a pre-existing conflict, Trong and Khanh got into a fight. Trong used a piece of metal to cut Khanh's neck, mouth, chest, and shoulder. Inmate Tran Duc Long intervened, holding Trong to rescue Khanh. A prison guard opened the door, allowing Khanh to escape. Trong then turned and used the metal piece to cut Long's neck. The guard ordered Trong to stop, but the inmate violently lunged towards the door, forcing the guard to lock the cell door. Thirty minutes later, with the assistance of the rapid response police force, Phan Cong Trong was subdued. Inmate Tran Duc Long died from a severed left aorta and vena cava.

During the trial on March 16th, the defendant Trong did not admit to his crime, claiming that he was coerced by prison guards into taking methamphetamine. Trong argued that inmate Tran Duc Long died from a heart condition, not from Trong using a piece of metal to kill him.

After three days of deliberation, the panel of judges deemed it necessary to conduct a mental health assessment of defendant Phan Cong Trong to ensure an objective trial. Therefore, they adjourned the trial to allow relevant authorities to conduct a psychiatric evaluation of Phan Cong Trong.

Trung Hung