The justification of a woman who committed the crime of...human trafficking twice

Two times selling people

The People's Court of Nghe An province has just opened a first-instance criminal trial to try the defendants Dau Thi Hoan (born 1971), Moong Van Thach (born 1977), both residing in Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son district, and Loc Thi May (born 1975), residing in Huu Kiem commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of "Human trafficking”. The victim in the case is Ms. O.TH (born 1992), residing in Chieu Luu commune, is Thach's cousin.

Among the defendants, this is the second time Dau Thi Hoan has appeared in court for human trafficking. Previously, Hoan was a defendant in a case of buying and selling another person and was sentenced to 4 years in prison in 2015. This woman said that while serving her sentence in a prison in Quang Binh province, her husband, who was not married to her, sold their house. What made Hoan even sadder was that her husband also ended their relationship and lived with another woman.

3 defendants at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

On her release from prison, Hoan was left penniless, having lost her home and her husband. As a result, this young woman had to live in a relative’s house. Having once lived in a “prisoner’s life”, this woman still refused to work hard. Instead, Hoan got involved in drugs and was sentenced to 15 months in prison in July 2022 for “Illegal possession of narcotics”.

At the same time, Dau Thi Hoan was identified by the authorities as being involved in a case of buying and selling other people. The case in which Hoan and two accomplices took a girl to China occurred in 2010. The case file shows that around July 2010, Hoan asked May about taking someone to China to get married. May confirmed that she could get the girl and promised to split the money if she found the person. Greedy, Hoan met Moong Van Thach to discuss finding someone to go to China to get married.

At this time, Thach immediately thought of his 20-year-old cousin named O.TH. Thach met his cousin and tricked her into going to work for a company in Quang Ninh. However, because he knew that his cousin did not know anyone in this province, Ms. H. did not agree at first. Then, Thach brought Hoan to persuade her and this time Ms. H. agreed. Not long after, Hoan handed Ms. H. over to Loc Thi May and received 1 million VND in advance.

After taking Ms. H. to China, May sold her to a Chinese man to marry for 30,000 Yuan, which was equivalent to 90 million VND. In this case, May profited 29 million VND, Hoan profited 31 million VND, and Thach pocketed 10 million VND. Thach gave the remaining 20 million VND to Ms. H.'s parents.

The human trafficking of the subjects was only exposed when Ms. H. fled back to Vietnam and filed a complaint with the police. Knowing that the human trafficking was exposed, Moong Van Thach turned himself in, while Hoan and May were arrested by the police.

Price

At the trial, defendant Hoan admitted his crime. Hoan said that for money, he colluded with his accomplices to trick and sell Ms. H. to China. The female defendant presented her difficult circumstances, currently having no assets or home, and asked the court to consider reducing her sentence. "I know I was wrong. I am an ethnic minority with limited legal awareness. I ask the court to give me a chance to correct my mistakes and return to my children soon," defendant Hoan presented to the court.

After many mistakes, Hoan shared that she had lost everything because of greed. She had no property, no home, and her husband had left her, so during her detention, she shared that no one came to visit her. Her two children were also unable to visit their mother because they worked far away. The defendant appeared sad because the price she had to pay was too high.

Defendant Dau Thi Hoan. Photo: Tran Vu

The two accomplices in the case also asked the court to consider reducing their sentences. Defendant Thach admitted that he and the victim were related. However, for money, he tricked and lured the victim to China.

Attending the court, the victim recounted his miserable life in a foreign land. He said he agreed because the defendants tricked him into working for the company. Only when he arrived in China did he realize he had been tricked. Having lived a miserable life in a foreign land for nearly 10 years, the defendant at the trial asked for a lighter sentence for the defendants.

The Trial Panel determined that the defendants' criminal acts were very serious, directly infringing on the freedom, honor, and dignity of citizens protected by law, negatively affecting the fine customs and traditions of Vietnamese women, causing bad public opinion, affecting the local security and order situation, and causing anxiety among the masses. The defendants themselves are healthy and normal people, with full criminal capacity, clearly aware that their actions were wrong, but for personal gain, they disregarded the law and intentionally committed crimes. Therefore, a strict sentence is needed to have a deterrent and general prevention effect.

After considering the role of each defendant, the court sentenced Dau Thi Hoan to 6 years in prison, a total of 15 months in prison for the crime of "Illegal possession of narcotics", forcing defendant Hoan to serve a total sentence of 7 years and 3 months. Meanwhile, defendant Loc Thi May 5 received a sentence of 5 years in prison, Moong Van Thach 4 years in prison for the crime of "Human trafficking".

Ms. O.TH was harmed in a human trafficking case. Photo: Tran Vu

In recent times, human trafficking crimes have become increasingly sophisticated and complex. The methods and tricks of this criminal group are mainly to take advantage of acquaintances or intermediaries to approach victims. They use seductive words, promise to find high-paying jobs, openly bargain, and entice victims to marry abroad, hoping to have a more leisurely life and at the same time have money to help their families, so some victims believe and voluntarily follow.

In addition, some people use tricks to find families with pregnant women in mountainous areas or ethnic minorities, or take advantage of social networking sites to lure pregnant women who do not want to raise children in the localities, take them to China to give birth, and then sell them abroad.

To prevent this type of crime, in addition to promoting investigation work, relevant agencies focus on propaganda, dissemination, and raising legal awareness for people, especially ethnic minorities and people in mountainous areas. In addition, functional sectors and localities maintain and replicate models and typical examples in preventing and combating human trafficking. However, currently, the work of preventing and combating this type of crime still faces many difficulties. Therefore, along with crime prevention and combat, supporting livelihoods and improving the lives of people in mountainous areas, especially women, is identified as one of the sustainable solutions to prevent human trafficking crimes.