The defense of the fifth-time defendant

After robbery, he turned into drug trafficking.

45 years old, Nguyen Ngoc Thach, residing in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, has been in and out of prison 4 times for various crimes. In 2000, when he was only 24 years old, Thach participated in a robbery and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for "Robbery of citizens' property". 4 years later, Nguyen Ngoc Thach was sentenced to 4 years in prison for the same crime of "Robbery".

Not long after, Thach continued to “register” his name on the “record” of robbery and received 2 years and 6 months in prison. Continuously committing robberies, Thach made many people in the area where he lived wary and avoided him.

For a long time, Nguyen Ngoc Thach was not seen again in robbery. Instead, Thach was involved in drug trafficking and was sentenced to 2 years and 3 months in prison in 2016.

Defendant Nguyen Ngoc Thach. Photo: Tran Vu

Having been sent to prison many times, Thach still seems to have not turned back to good. His wife and relatives have spent a lot of time advising and encouraging him, but Thach continues to commit crimes. This time, the man turned to drugs.

Accordingly, around March 2020, while looking for medicine to treat liver disease, Thach met a man from Nghe An, and the two exchanged phone numbers. After that, Thach asked this man to buy drugs and was introduced to a subject named A Ni. On July 27, 2020, Thach bought a plane ticket from Ho Chi Minh City to Nghe An to buy 30 million VND worth of drugs from A Ni.

On the evening of July 29, A Ni sold Thach 30 packages of pink meth (589.13 grams) and 1 package of heroin (2.87 grams). When he returned to the hotel, Thach took out two types of drugs to use and found that heroin relieved pain while pink meth made the pain worse, so he called A Ni to ask for the pink meth back. The next afternoon, Thach took the pink meth to return it to the seller but was arrested by Nghe An police. After that, Thach voluntarily handed over the heroin hidden in the motel to the investigation agency.

In addition to drugs, the investigation agency also confiscated from Thach 10 cell phones, 1 walkie-talkie, and 1 binocular.

The Addict's Justification

Indicted and brought to trial for the crime of illegal possession of narcotics, Nguyen Ngoc Thach confessed to buying drugs for personal use. The defendant stated that around 2016, Thach discovered that he had chronic hepatitis B and C (cirrhosis f3) and sought treatment everywhere. In addition to Western medicine, the defendant also sought traditional medicine.

Not only that, the defendant also turned to drugs to relieve the pain. “It was on my birthday in 2019, after a friend gave me some drugs, I felt less pain so I started using drugs,” Thach confessed, admitting that he was addicted to this substance.

“When you are sick, you pray to all directions,” so the defendant went to Nghe An to buy drugs to use gradually and not to resell them,” Thach cried in court and told of the illness that had weakened his health.

Regarding the 10 phones that the authorities seized when he was arrested, the defendant said that they were given to him by friends and relatives. Because he was short of money, he pawned them. Before going to Nghe An, he had redeemed the above phones, so he took them away without any other purpose?!.

When questioned by the jury about the defendant using the above phones to communicate about drug trading, Thach denied it. Regarding the walkie-talkie, the defendant said it was to contact relatives. "The defendant went to Nghe An for only a short time, so why did he bring so many electronic devices just to contact his family, does that sound reasonable?", when questioned by the court, Thach remained silent. Regarding the binoculars, Thach said he brought them to Nghe An to "see the scenery" and not to serve the purpose of drug trading.

Throughout the trial, defendant Nguyen Ngoc Thach kept complaining about his serious illness and pain, making life difficult. Because he could not bear the pain, lost his appetite, and had trouble sleeping, he turned to drugs. The defendant expressed remorse, citing poor health as the reason to ask the court to reduce his sentence.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s illegal possession of narcotics was a violation of the law. Even if the defendant’s reason was to relieve pain and treat illness, it should still be strictly punished for general deterrence and prevention. After considering aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel sentenced Nguyen Ngoc Thach to 16 years in prison for illegal possession of narcotics. As for the drug seller, because Thach did not know the specific address, there was no basis for punishment.

The 5th time entering the prison gate with a sentence of 16 years in prison - the highest sentence but is it the final sentence? Only Thach can answer that question most accurately.