Chef prosecuted for mixing pesticides into boarding students' food
The police agency has just issued a decision to initiate a criminal case and prosecute Ha Thi Thi (born in 1984) for the crime of "Intentionally causing harm to the health of others".
According to the police, on September 23, the Mai Son District Police Investigation Agency received information about a crime at Chu Van Thinh High School, Mai Son District, Son La Province with the following content: At noon on September 22, when the school's kitchen staff was preparing to divide the food portions for the boarding students, they discovered that the pot of boiled chayote smelled of pesticide. Suspecting that someone had added pesticide, the school did not let the students eat boiled chayote, took some food samples to store in the refrigerator and reported the incident to the Mai Son District Police Investigation Agency for investigation and clarification.
On September 24, based on the crime denunciation and collected documents, the Investigation Police Agency of Mai Son District Police issued an Emergency Detention Order, an Emergency Arrest Order, and a Decision to temporarily detain Ha Thi Thi (residing in Ang Ung village, Chieng Ban commune, Mai Son district, Son La province), a contract employee of Chu Van Thinh High School, for the act of "Intentionally causing harm to another person's health", as prescribed in Article 134 of the Penal Code.
During the investigation and verification process, Thi was a contract employee of the school, cooking for boarding students. Because Thi was dissatisfied with the school's choice of a food supplier that did not ensure quality and suspected collusion in reducing the supported food portions for students, Thi came up with the idea of adding pesticides, cockroach and ant killers to the food rations of students registered to eat at the school with the intention of poisoning the students after eating and the school had to change the food supplier.
At the police station, the suspect confessed: On September 13, on the way back from the market, Thi stopped at a pesticide dealer to buy 2 packets of cockroach and ant killer and 1 bottle of insecticide. After buying, Thi put them in the pocket of the sun-protective jacket he was wearing and then put them in the trunk of his motorbike so that he could commit the crime when he had the opportunity.
On September 22, the kitchen staff peeled the chayote to prepare food for the students, and Thi saw this as an opportunity to take action. At around 9:30 a.m. the same day, after taking the boiled chayote out of the pot, Thi put in insecticide to kill ants and cockroaches, then a little pesticide, and used both hands to mix and stir the chayote in the pot. During the process of dividing the food, because of detecting the smell of pesticide in the boiled chayote, the kitchen manager reported to the school's Board of Directors to report to the police.
At around 11am that same day, after returning home, Thi remembered that she had left her sun-protection shirt inside which contained an opened bottle of pesticide and an unused package of cockroach and ant killer. She went to the kitchen storage area to get the shirt and brought it home. After returning home, Thi burned the bottle of pesticide in the family's wood stove.
During the search of the suspect's house, the police discovered and seized a package of ant and cockroach killer hanging in the family's bird cage.
Based on the subject's behavior, the Investigation Police Agency of Son La Province Police issued a Decision to initiate a criminal case and a Decision to prosecute the accused Ha Thi Thi for the crime of "Intentionally causing harm to the health of others" as prescribed in Clause 6, Article 134 of the Penal Code.
