The humiliating memories of a 14-year-old girl sold across the border to become a wife in a foreign land

BstainUncle agreed to let his wife's stepchild go abroad.

Lo Thi Nu (born in 1998) was born and raised in Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong district. Her mother remarried so Nu lived with her stepfather, Cut Van Dam. One day in early 2012, Nu heard from someone in the village that her stepfather had sent her to China.

At that time, Quang Thi Xu (born in 1993, residing in Xa Luong commune) had just returned from China. Xu returned home with a woman named Thuyen. This was the same person who had previously tricked Xu into going to China to get married and have children. Although she knew that sending people across the border was against the law, Xu still agreed to help Thuyen find women to take across the border because of greed.

After staying at Xu’s house for 3 days, a woman came to see Thuyen and said that there was a man named Dam who agreed to take his wife’s stepdaughter to China to get married. When they had a “prey”, Thuyen discussed with Xu about selling Nu, promising to give her 10,000 yuan (equivalent to 30 million VND) as compensation.

After the agreement was reached, Thuyen paid Xu 1.5 million VND in advance for the work and 4 million VND to deliver to Mr. Dam. Because Xu did not know the way to Nu's house, he had to pay the taxi driver 500,000 VND. When he met Mr. Dam, Xu gave him 4 million VND and then took Nu to his house. At that time, Xu told Nu "going to China is only to get married or work". Hearing that, Nu did not agree.

Xu immediately called Thuyen to tell her that Nu did not agree to go. Thuyen told Xu, "We have to make her go because her stepfather has already received the money." Hearing Xu say that her stepfather had already received the money, Nu kept quiet and agreed to go to China.

The subjects then took Nu to Vinh city, took a bus to Quang Ninh and then illegally crossed the border into China. After about a month at Xu’s house, the victim was sold to a local man to be his wife for more than 200 million VND. Xu then contacted Thuyen to get the money, but he did not pay and then cut off all contact.

Defendant Quang Thi Xu was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

Humiliating memories

As for the victim, being sold at a young age caused her much humiliation and hardship. Recounting her painful days, Nu said she was sold to an older man to be his wife. Although she was scared, because she did not know anyone and was afraid of being beaten, the 14-year-old girl had to grit her teeth and endure. “My husband’s family saw me as nothing more than a “child-bearing machine”. They threatened me, forced me to obey, and not to run away because “we bought you to give birth to children”, Nu recalled her miserable life.

During the 7 years of living with a much older man, Nu gave birth to 3 children. However, the first child unfortunately passed away. The pain of losing a child affected Nu's spirit and made her depressed. Many times, Nu asked her husband's family to let her go out to work but they refused. Her husband's family also restricted Nu's use of the phone for fear of her running away. All household expenses were also strictly controlled by her husband's family.

Her life of confinement made her depressed, so she always tried to escape back to Vietnam. After a long time of planning, at the end of 2019, Nu escaped back to her country, ending 7 years of living in humiliation in a foreign land.

After that, the victim filed a complaint with the police. The investigation agency arrested Quang Thi Xu based on the complaint. As for the ringleader, Thuyen, the investigation agency has not yet been able to handle the case because their address is unknown.

Late happiness of a mountain girl

Quang Thi Xu was prosecuted for the crime of Child Trafficking. At the first instance trial, defendant Xu admitted her crime. The defendant admitted that she had been a victim of human trafficking, and knew that the act of sending people to China to sell was a violation of the law, but because of greed, she colluded with Thuyen to send the victims abroad.

In court, Xu cried and said that in this case he only benefited 1 million VND. Thuyen pocketed the more than 200 million VND from selling the victim and did not share it with the defendant. A judge reminded the defendant that regardless of how much money he received, he had committed the crime of child trafficking, violating the law.

In the presence of the victim, Xu apologized. The victim requested the defendant to compensate her for mental damage of more than 70 million VND. After negotiation, the two sides agreed on a compensation of 40 million VND. Right in court, the defendant influenced relatives to compensate the victim for mental damage of 5 million VND in advance.

Considering that the defendant's criminal act violated the law and seriously violated the honor, dignity, and human rights of the victim, the court sentenced defendant Quang Thi Xu to 10 years in prison for the crime of Child Trafficking.

Regarding Nu's stepfather, the investigation determined that Mr. Dam only knew that his daughter worked in Quang Ninh based on the words of a woman of unknown origin. Before taking Nu to work, Mr. Dam asked his wife and daughter and they agreed. Because he did not know that Xu and Thuyen took their daughter to China to sell, there was no basis for criminal proceedings.

The court ended, Nu quietly left the court. The girl who was once a victim of human trafficking now has a new life. Nu shared that after returning to her hometown, she got married to a man from the same village. That man accepted her past. Nu is currently pregnant with their child. Having gone through so much humiliation, now Nu only wishes to live a normal life like other girls in her hometown without having to wander far away.

(The victim's name has been changed.)