Late regret of the killer of his ex-wife's family

Throughout the trial at the People's Court of Ha Tinh, Le Minh Hai, 38 years old, resident of Ha Huy Tap ward, cried continuously, expressing remorse for his moment of lack of control that caused pain to many families. In the hall below, the victim's family said "there is nothing more to say" to Hai, asking the panel of judges to punish him severely.

According to the verdict, Hai is from Hung Nguyen district (Nghe An), married Ms. Bui Thi Dung, residing in Ha Huy Tap ward, Ha Tinh city in 2007, and has one child together. Hai and his wife built a house on land borrowed from Ms. Nguyen Thi Van (72 years old, Ms. Dung's mother) in residential group 4. In 2018, the couple had conflicts, separated, and filed for divorce in court. When the project to extend Le Duan street was implemented, the house where Hai and his wife used to live was subject to site clearance, and they were compensated with more than 216 million VND. On September 7, 2020, Ms. Van and her son Bui Van Quy (28 years old) received the above amount.

Hai then met with Ms. Van's family to discuss the division of compensation. The two sides agreed that when Hai and Ms. Dung decided to divorce, they would split the money in half. On the morning of September 28, 2020, after receiving the divorce decision from the People's Court of Ha Tinh City, Hai called Ms. Dung and Mr. Quy to meet at noon that same day to divide the money.

At the trial opened in January, Hai said that before committing the crime, there was no conflict and he did not care about money, he wanted to talk properly and gently with his ex-wife's family members. "The defendant saw Nhung and Huynh speaking harshly and insultingly, so he swung a knife and slashed. During the scuffle, the defendant accidentally took their lives. At that time, the defendant did not understand why he acted so blindly, but after calming down, it was too late," Hai said.

The defendant stated that he moved from Nghe An to Ha Tinh to start a business, and had to hear many rumors about "living with the wife's family" and "depending on the wife's family". Sometimes he felt sad but did not care too much. In the early days of their marriage, their life was happy. In 2017, the couple had a conflict due to debt and separated. When his wife went to Hanoi to work, Hai also took his son to rent a room, worked as a car mechanic to make a living, and had little contact with his wife's family.

Things changed in September 2019, when some friends told them that the land where Hai and his wife had previously built their house was being compensated by the government. Hai then called Quy to question him and was told that they would meet to divide the money once the divorce proceedings were completed.

"On the day the deal was closed, my ex-wife's mother's family told me to wait until Dung came back before giving them the money. I thought they were cheating me, so I deliberately delayed and did not deliver the hundreds of millions of dong as agreed, so I took action," Hai said of the reason for committing the crime.

Representatives of the victims' families attending the court all expressed that the loss was too great, and did not want to comment or say anything more to rekindle the pain. Meeting her ex-husband in such an ironic situation, Ms. Dung did not go to the bar when questioned by the judge. "My heart ached. The victims were my mother and two sisters, and the defendant was my son's father," Ms. Dung stammered, not knowing how to react appropriately. "I am still in shock. I hope he will be a good person in the next life," she said.

In his final wish presentation, Hai said "no words can describe it all, I feel very guilty". "Today is very likely the last time I see everyone together like this. If I have to pay with my life, I would like to volunteer to donate my body to the country's medical industry. I hope this will help someone in this country. This is from the bottom of my heart, I hope you will consider it", Hai stated.

The panel of judges replied that after the trial ended, Hai could submit a petition stating his wish to donate his body to medical authorities for consideration.

The court determined that the defendant could not be reformed and needed to be permanently isolated from social life, and sentenced him to death for the crime.Killing, according to Article 123 of the Penal Code. Hai must compensate Nhung and Huynh's family more than 400 million VND, and provide monthly support of 700,000 VND for the three children of the two victims until they turn 18. Currently, the defendant has authorized his mother to compensate the two victims more than 90 million VND.

Receiving the sentence, Hai was silent, raised his hands to his face to wipe away tears.

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