Sentenced for stabbing his ex-wife's boyfriend.
After the divorce, Duc brought his children to his ex-wife's house for a few days, but she refused to open the door. When he discovered a male friend in his ex-wife's room, Duc chased after him and stabbed him multiple times with scissors.
On November 18th, the People's Court of Nghe An province held a first-instance trial to hear the case against defendant Pham Van Duc (born in 1989), residing in Dong Loc commune (Nghe An province), for the crime of murder.
Pham Van Duc and Nguyen Thi M. were married but have since divorced. At approximately 7:30 PM on December 23, 2024, Duc asked his younger brother to bring their three young children to meet his ex-wife to ask her to look after them for a few days.
After hiring a car to take everyone to the boarding house in Dien Chau commune - where Ms. M. lived - Duc saw that the gate to the boarding house was closed, so he climbed over the wall to get inside. At this point, Duc continued to call Ms. M., but his ex-wife did not answer or open the door.
Duc went back to the car to carry the children inside and saw the driver's iron scissors on the car door. Duc took the scissors and asked his younger brother to help carry the two young children inside to Ms. M.
Upon arriving at the door of the rented room, Duc called out to his ex-wife while using a pair of metal scissors to forcefully poke at the door, shattering a piece of glass. Then, Duc reached inside to unlock the door, pushed it open, and found his ex-wife and Mr. Nguyen Van T. (born in 1987) inside.
Mr. T. ran out of the room but was chased and attacked by Duc. T. hid in the landlord's room but Duc followed him and stabbed him multiple times in the head, neck, shoulders, and chest with scissors.
The victim resisted and tried to run away, but fell. Duc then used a plastic teapot to hit him four times in the face and head. After that, he continued to stab him in multiple places with scissors, the final stab hitting his shoulder, causing T. to collapse onto the bed.
After stabbing the victim, Duc went home to sleep. The next morning, upon learning that Mr. T. was being treated at the hospital, Duc went to the police to surrender and hand over the weapon used in the crime.
The victim was treated at the hospital until January 2, 2025. Investigators determined that the victim suffered 21% bodily injury.
At the trial, the defendant admitted to his crime. He testified that on that evening, he had brought his children to his ex-wife's house to look after them for a few days while he went to work, but his ex-wife refused to open the door.
After entering the rented room and seeing Mr. T. with his ex-wife, the defendant became "unable to control his anger," leading to uncontrolled behavior.
The defendant stated that he suspected his ex-wife had an extramarital affair before their divorce, but he could not provide any evidence.
At the trial, the defendant apologized to the victim. The victim, who was present in court, requested a reduced sentence for the defendant.
The panel of judges determined that the defendant's actions constituted the crime of murder. After a comprehensive review of the case, the court sentenced Pham Van Duc to 12 years in prison.
