Taxi Driver Murder and Father's Forgiveness

On the way, Tuan had the idea of ​​killing Hai to take the car. Tuan showed Hai the way to drive to Tuan's brother's house in Tan Viet commune, Quang Ninh.

Defendant Vu Viet Tuan.

At about 00:30 on June 11, 2018, when Mr. Hai drove to Hong Lac commune, Hai Duong, Tuan took out a knife and cut the driver's neck with the blade.

At this time, Mr. H. let go of the steering wheel, his head tilted back, the car lost control and crashed into a milestone, the tire crushed into a concrete pillar and a guardrail blocking the road.

When the taxi stopped, Tuan continued to stab the driver in the neck, severing part of the anterior thorn in the second cervical vertebra. Mr. Hai tried to raise his hand to hold and push Tuan's knife-holding hand toward the front windshield.

At this time, Tuan turned the knife towards the taxi driver’s chest, stabbing the victim in the chest. After pulling out the knife, Tuan stabbed the taxi driver in the back.

Then, Tuan cut the victim's seat belt, pulled Hai out, let the victim lie down on the side of the road, and drove to a motel in Hai Duong to pick up his girlfriend.

Tuan drove his girlfriend away when Hai's phone rang. The killer rolled down the window and dropped the driver's phone on the road.

On the way, the car got stuck on the edge of the concrete road. Unable to control the car, Tuan left the taxi on the side of the road and took his girlfriend to a deserted cemetery.

The man strangled his girlfriend and demanded an explanation for why they wanted to break up. She tried to explain that they broke up because she wanted the best for Tuan, because he had a wife and children. She then took a taxi with Tuan to a motel, while Hai died from blood loss.

Tuan fled and turned himself in to the police on June 11, 2018. For the crimes as stated above, Tuan was sentenced to death by the court of first instance for murder and 20 years in prison for robbery.

The forgiveness of a father who lost his child

On January 7, 2019, Tuan filed an appeal for a reduced sentence. The legal representative of the victim also filed an appeal for a reduced sentence for the defendant.

At the appeal hearing, Tuan confessed to all the crimes as sentenced by the court of first instance and requested a reduction in his sentence.

The defendant argued that he had many mitigating circumstances and committed the crime alone.

The legal representative of the victim, the victim's father, asked the appellate court to reduce the death penalty for the defendant to life imprisonment. He asked for a reduction in the sentence for the person who killed his son because he did not want the defendant's children to lose their father, and did not want the defendant's family to suffer the pain and loss that his family had suffered.

After consideration, the appellate panel held that the defendant's criminal behavior was particularly dangerous. The defendant committed the crime very fiercely, prepared a weapon, and committed murder with direct intent, causing outrage in public opinion.

According to the appellate court, when deciding on the sentence, the first-instance court considered the aggravating and mitigating circumstances for the defendant. The first-instance court sentenced the defendant to death for murder, which is appropriate to the nature and level of danger of the crime.

Therefore, there is no basis to accept the appeal of the defendant and the victim's representative. The appellate court upheld the death sentence for Vu Viet Tuan.