Unable to hold on to happiness, son-in-law seeks father-in-law's life

Filled with resentment because he thought his father-in-law supported his daughter's divorce, Lieu took a knife to his father-in-law's house and killed him.

The Hanoi People's Court recently brought defendant Nguyen Nhu Lieu (born 1985, in Ha Dong, Hanoi) to trial for murder. Lieu's victim was his father-in-law.

Lieu and Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Hang (born 1994, in Ha Dong, Hanoi) got married and had 2 children together. According to Ms. Hang, her marriage with her husband was not peaceful as the two often had conflicts.

Defendant in court

In early 2016, Ms. Hang and her husband filed for divorce at the People's Court of Ha Dong District. While waiting for the court to resolve the divorce, Ms. Hang took her child to live at the home of her parents, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Manh (born 1970) and Ms. Dao Thi Hong (born 1972), in Dong Mai (Ha Dong, Hanoi).

Since then, Lieu and Mr. Manh's family have argued many times. Once, Lieu even took a knife and threatened to hit his father-in-law.

On the evening of September 4, 2016, Lieu's family invited his siblings and children to dinner. Lieu also picked up his daughter and took her home. After eating, Lieu drove her to his father-in-law's house. He did not go inside the house but dropped the children off at the end of the alley and drove away.

Killing father-in-law

That day, angry that Mr. Manh supported his daughter's divorce, Lieu had the idea to beat Mr. Manh to vent his anger. He took a machete and returned to his father-in-law's house.

When they arrived, they saw that the gate was locked and the lights were still on inside the house. Lieu climbed over the fence into Mr. Manh's yard. At that time, Mrs. Hong was in the living room on the first floor. She heard the sound of a motorbike so she opened the door and looked out. Seeing Lieu climb over the wall into the yard, she knew something was wrong and called her husband to wake him up.

Mr. Manh's son, Nguyen Dinh Huy (born in 1996), saw Lieu in the yard and asked: "What are you doing here?" Lieu replied: "You already know, why are you asking?" Then he rushed into the living room door and headed towards the bedroom door. At this time, Mr. Manh came out of the room, holding an iron pipe in his hand.

As soon as he saw his father-in-law, Lieu rushed in and swung his knife, slashing the victim in the chest. Mr. Manh only had time to shout: "He slashed me!" and rushed to hug Lieu. The two men pushed each other through the side door and fell onto the brick floor.

At this time, Mr. Huy ran out and saw Lieu lying on his back, Mr. Manh lying on top of him. Lieu still held a knife in his hand and Huy held a mop and hit Lieu repeatedly.

When the mop broke, Huy grabbed a nearby cleaver and slashed Lieu's right hand 2-3 times. Lieu tried to raise her arms to cover her head and pull her legs up, but Huy slashed her legs 1-2 more times.

Seeing that, Mr. Manh said to his son: "Okay, take me to the emergency room." Mr. Manh was taken to the emergency room but died that night due to irreversible blood loss.

Lieu was also injured and was taken to the emergency room by his family. On September 14, 2016, when he was discharged from the hospital, he turned himself in.

Regarding Nguyen Dinh Huy, the investigation agency said that when he witnessed his brother-in-law storming into the house with a knife to slash his father, Huy used a mop and a knife to slash Lieu's arms and legs, causing 10% injury. Huy beat his brother-in-law to prevent Lieu from attacking Mr. Manh.

After seeing Lieu drop the knife and lie still, Huy did not attack Lieu anymore. Huy's action was a case of legitimate self-defense, as stipulated in Article 15 of the Penal Code, so the Investigation Police did not mention any action against Huy.

Present in court, the defendant's wife said that she and her husband often argued about money. "Both my children depend on their parents. Whenever my husband runs out of money, he comes home and causes trouble with his wife and children," said Ms. Hang.

As for the defendant, he denied his statement to the police, saying that he did not intend to kill his father-in-law. In his final words, the defendant apologized to both his paternal and maternal families, hoping for leniency from the law.

After consideration, the panel of judges on December 14 sentenced the defendant to life in prison.

According to Vietnamnet