Two teachers who caused a child to choke on porridge burst into tears in court
Surprised when the victim's father asked the court to reduce the sentence, the two defendants burst into tears and said, "I apologize to the family, I apologize to the child's soul."
On October 26, the Hanoi People's Court opened an appeal hearing to consider the appeal for suspended sentences of two former kindergarten teachers convicted of involuntary manslaughter for letting a child choke on porridge.
According to the first instance verdict, when taking care of baby Tran Nhat Huong (18 months old) at Little Angel School (Long Bien District, Hanoi), teachers Dinh Thi Hong (40 years old) and Ngo Thi Ha Quyen (32 years old) did not feed her according to instructions. When the baby vomited, the defendants did not follow the scientific treatment process but instead put her to sleep and put her on the floor; used the phone during working hours...
Medical authorities later determined that baby Huong had food regurgitated into her airway and died due to lack of timely emergency care.
The court of first instance sentenced Hong and Quyen to 20 and 12 months in prison, respectively.
At today's appeal hearing, Hong and Quyen testified that on August 26, 2013, Huong entered school. The next day, Hong fed her porridge during breakfast time in class, but she cried and refused to eat. Hong gave her milk, but it all came back. At around 1:15 p.m., Quyen patted her gently, and half an hour later, seeing the child's face turn purple, she quickly called for help and took her to the emergency room...
Standing to answer the interrogation, the two girls were thin and small, lost in the dock. When asked the question "How do you feel about your responsibility?", Quyen and Hong both answered that the conviction was "not unjust", but explained that they did not know what they did wrong in "putting the baby to sleep".
Present in court, Mr. Bach, Huong’s father, listened attentively and continuously took notes of the interrogation. When invited by the panel of judges to speak, he slowly said that his family had submitted a petition to the court asking for leniency for the two defendants because they understood their remorse and regret.
“Although we also have pain and loss, the defendants’ circumstances are also very difficult. The prolonged incident has not only caused us pain but also the two defendants,” said the child’s father.
The interrogation lasted about 15 minutes. In the opinion section, the prosecutor argued that there were grounds to reduce part of the sentence, requesting the court to reduce each defendant's sentence by 3-5 months.
In his final words, defendant Hong did not ask for a reduced sentence but turned to Mr. Bach and burst into tears, saying: "I apologize to you. I apologize to my nephew's soul." Mr. Bach silently nodded and continued to lower his head.
Defendant Quyen also cried, choked up and said: "I'm sorry to my soul, I'm sorry to my family."
After deliberation, the appellate panel found that the defendants pleaded guilty and showed remorse. The court of first instance found the two defendants guilty of involuntary manslaughter due to violation of professional principles, which was the right person and the right crime.
The court applied the circumstances that the defendant committed the crime unintentionally, the victim asked for a reduced sentence; Resolution 141 guiding the implementation of the 2015 Penal Code... so the prison sentence was changed to suspended sentence for the two defendants.
According to VNE
