Late regret of 80-year-old man in Nghe An who used knife to take his son's life

One day in mid-October 2019, Mr. Lo Van Vien (80 years old), residing in the communeHuu Kiem, from Ky Son district, wore faded clothes to the People's Court of Nghe An province to attend the trial in which he was the defendant. His tall, thin figure made him look even more miserable. He was accompanied to court that day by his son-in-law, who was also the legal representative of the victim.

Defendant Lo Van Vien. Photo: Tran Vu

Despite his advanced age, defendant Lo Van Vien clearly confessed his crimes in court. He stated that he and his wife had 6 children, including the victim Lo Van V. (48 years old). Despite his age, this child refused to get married. That was what worried him and was also the reason why father and son often had resentment and quarrels with each other.

Furthermore, according to the defendant, for the past 6 years, his son has not allowed him to eat with him, making life very difficult. “In 2013, he declared that whoever earns something will eat by themselves and will not share the meal anymore. Since then, any money I earn from being a shaman or doing rituals, I buy instant noodles and raw vegetables to live with my wife. Meanwhile, he (referring to his son) is still healthy, earns money but does not help his father,” Lo Van Vien explained.

From those small conflicts in life, the relationship between father and son gradually deteriorated. Then, during an argument, defendant Lo Van Vien used a knife to take the life of his son.

Accordingly, in the evening of June 9, 2019, defendant Lo Van Vien brought offerings to "make a blessing" for the child of a family in the village, then stayed to eat, drink, and watch TV with this family. At about 9:00 p.m. the same day, the defendant returned home with a couple of cups of wine. Seeing his father return, Mr. V. said something provocative to his father to eat all of theirs. Lo Van Vien replied: "I didn't eat it all, and the wine I drank wasn't yours. I drank theirs, and I only drank a couple of cups." Then he continued to mention his son, who was old but refused to get married. The two sides exchanged words, the climax of the conflict was when the son cursed: "A dog is worse than you."

After the son finished speaking, Lo Van Vien went into the bedroom to get a sharp knife and slashed V once. After that, the two sides struggled, the son used his hands to strangle and push his father to the floor. The father also responded by continuing to slash his son 4 more times. Everything only stopped when the neighbors heard the noise, ran over to take the knife from Mr. Vien's hand and took the victim to the hospital for emergency treatment. However, the victim died at the hospital. As for the defendant Lo Van Vien, after slashing his son, he went to bed, then escaped into the forest. At 10 p.m. on June 10, Lo Van Vien went to the police station to confess, admitting his crime.

In court, Lo Van Vien said that because he was angry with his son's behavior, he "decided to discipline him." "Why did you discipline your son by using a knife?", the court asked. Mr. Vien replied: "Because at that time, you couldn't think of anything."

Due to his old age, the defendant was released on bail and returned to his hometown, awaiting execution. Photo: Tran Vu

The witness who attended the trial also admitted that he had often witnessed the victim insulting his father when he was alive. This witness was also the one who took the knife from the defendant’s hand. Meanwhile, the victim’s representative who attended the trial did not request any compensation.

Since the day her son died under the cruel knife wounds of her husband, Mrs. Vi Thi Vien (the victim's mother and the defendant's wife) was sad and fell ill. She could not bear to see her husband stand trial for the crime of killing her son, so she did not attend the court day but gave her son-in-law power of attorney.

For the crime of “Murder”, defendant Lo Van Vien was sentenced to 5 years in prison. However, due to his old age, defendant Lo Van Vien was released on bail to his hometown to await the execution of his sentence. Leaving the court with a cloth bag on his shoulder, a dejected posture and a sad, remorseful face, the old man looked both pitiful and blameworthy...