The late apology of an uncle who accidentally killed his nephew

On March 27, 2019, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance criminal trial of defendant Nguyen Ba Dinh (born in 1962, residing in Vinh Tan ward, Vinh city). Defendant Dinh was prosecuted for "Murder due to exceeding the limits of legitimate self-defense".

Defendant Nguyen Ba Dinh apologized at the trial and asked for forgiveness from the victim's family. Photo: Quynh An.

The victim was Pham Van D. (born in 1979), who called Dinh his uncle. The victim’s mother, Nguyen Thi L., was also Dinh’s older sister. Perhaps she could not bear to sit between the victim, her own son, and the defendant, her younger brother. So all four times she did not attend the trial but authorized someone else to attend the trial.

According to the indictment, at around 8:00 p.m. on July 22, 2017, Dinh attended the death anniversary of his brother-in-law (Mrs. Nguyen Thi L's husband). While drinking, D. cursed at everyone and made a scene, so Dinh grabbed D.'s collar and chased him away. The two uncle and nephew got into a fight and conflict. After being stopped by everyone, Nguyen Ba Dinh went home and closed the gate.

Pham Van D. ran to get a knife and came back to threaten everyone, threatening to kill Dinh's entire family. Seeing D. pushing the gate into the house with a knife, Nguyen Ba Dinh took a piece of wood and hit his nephew many times on the body and head. Only when he saw his nephew staggering out holding his head did Dinh stop. Although he was taken to the emergency room by his relatives, Pham Van D. died later due to severe injuries. The cause of Pham Van D.'s death was determined to be "a fractured, collapsed skull, and a brain hemorrhage due to trauma."

In previous trials, the representative of the victim's legal rights and interests, Ms. T. - Pham Van D.'s younger sister, said that the indictment had many unreasonable details and requested to postpone the trial and summon more witnesses to ensure objectivity.

At the trial, in front of the jury, the entire family of the defendant stood up and apologized to the victim's family. The apology hoped to resolve the hatred between the two families. Defendant Nguyen Ba Dinh was extremely remorseful for his actions in a moment of anger, just because of a glass of wine, the tragedy happened to his family. Defendant Nguyen Ba Dinh's family voluntarily compensated 250 million VND to Pham Van D's family.

After considering aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel decided to sentence Nguyen Ba Dinh to 24 months in prison, suspended for 48 months, for the crime of "Murder due to exceeding the limits of legitimate defense".