The 'bitter ending' of a woman who abandoned her child to follow her lover into heroin trafficking

Abandon child for lover

Nguyen Thi Van (42 years old), residing in Huu Kiem commune, Ky Son district, was recently brought to trial by the People's Court of Nghe An province for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking" with her accomplice, Duong Van Sang (49 years old), residing in Tam Lanh commune, Phu Ninh district (Quang Nam province). Sang and Van were lovers and lived together as husband and wife.

Before coming to Van, Sang had divorced two wives. Meanwhile, Van's husband is currently serving a prison sentence for drug-related crimes.

Following her lover into drug trafficking, Van had to pay the price of 15 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

While her husband was in prison, Van went abroad to work. After returning home, Van built a house for her and her three children to live in. Then, Van went to Quang Nam and had a relationship with a twice-divorced man named Sang.

In Tam Ky city (Quang Nam), Van and Sang rented a house and lived together since 2019. During their time together, Sang followed his lover to Nghe An many times and learned about the source of drugs from a Mong ethnic person. After that, Sang "revealed" it to his friend named Dang Huu Ngan. This person hired Sang to go to Nghe An many times to buy drugs but was not allowed because Sang thought the wages were low.

On June 13, 2021, Sang and Van went to Nghe An to make a citizen identification card. Upon hearing the news, Ngan also took a bus to follow Sang to ask him to buy drugs. When they met at a motel in Thach Giam town, Tuong Duong district, Ngan gave Sang 155 million VND to buy 1.5 heroin cakes, promising to pay 50 million VND for the work.

In this negotiation, Sang agreed because the rental price had increased. To buy drugs, Sang invited Van to a used motorbike shop. The next afternoon, Sang drove Van to the meeting place to meet the Mong people and gave her money to buy heroin.

In the early morning of June 16, a Hmong man called Sang to inform him that he had the “goods” and to set up a delivery location. Because he was not familiar with the terrain, Sang gave the phone to Van to answer. Van knew this was the location to receive the drugs but still drove Sang to receive them. On the way back, the couple was arrested by the police with 370 grams of drugs as evidence.

The bitter ending

Both were prosecuted and tried for "Illegal drug trafficking". Throughout the trial, Van cried her eyes out and kept her head down. The female defendant admitted that she knew Sang was buying drugs when he asked her to answer the phone to ask for the location. Van explained that she did not expect that "just helping like that" would result in a sentence of many years in prison. The defendant expressed her sincerity and asked the court to reduce her sentence so that she could return to her children soon because her husband was currently in prison. When asked by the court why she followed her husband to sell drugs, Van just kept her head down and cried.

The local authorities where Van resides confirmed the special circumstances of this family. After her husband went to prison, the police and local authorities came to propagate the law to the family many times, but Van continued to make the same mistakes as her husband. Currently, with both parents in prison, the defendant Van's children are relying on their grandparents.

The defendant cried continuously at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

The accomplice in the case, the defendant Sang, also confessed and admitted to the crime. Sang said he bought drugs for his friend. However, based on Sang’s testimony, the investigation agency worked with Ngan, but she did not admit to asking the defendant to buy drugs. Because there was only Sang’s testimony, the investigation agency had no basis to proceed.

After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced Duong Van Sang to 20 years in prison and Nguyen Thi Van to 15 years in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking".

Without their father, Van’s children had to go through a difficult and deprived childhood. Now without their mother, those children are even more disadvantaged. That seems to be the greatest incompetence and irresponsibility of a mother like Van.