Conflict in karaoke bar, group of young people "fight"

On March 15, the People's Court of Quy Hop district opened a public trial of the criminal case against Nguyen Van Tien (born in 1986), Nguyen Van Duc (born in 1996), Dau Quoc Quynh (born in 1988), all residing in Tam Hop commune, Truong Van Chuyen (born in 1997), residing in Nghia Xuan commune (Quy Hop), and Tran Ngoc Hoang (born in 1994), residing in Nghia Hung commune (Nghia Dan) for the crime of "intentionally causing injury"; defendant Nguyen Van Tien was also charged with the additional crime of "illegally possessing explosives".

Defendants in court. Photo: Le Tran

According to the indictment, on the evening of April 26, 2018, after eating and drinking at a birthday party until around 9 p.m., a group of young people including Ho Ba Hoang, Cuong, Thao, Nam, Lam... and some female friends went to sing karaoke in Thanh Xuan hamlet (Nghia Xuan).

Here, they met Tien, Duc, Quynh, Chuyen, and Hoang, who were also singing, so Lam invited Tien into the singing room to drink beer, but Tien refused and said, "I won't drink beer with you." So Lam and Tien got into an argument that led to a fight. After being stopped by everyone, the two sides stopped and dispersed from the bar. At this time, Tien's group went to drink at a bar near C8 in Nghia Xuan commune, when his accomplices called to inform that Lam's group was coming down to fight.

Hearing that, Tien's group prepared weapons including knives, iron pipes and wooden sticks to attack Lam's group. At 11pm that same day, when Lam's group passed by, Tien shouted to his accomplices to rush out and attack. Being beaten, Lam's group ran away in two groups in opposite directions to escape, while Ho Ba Hoang did not run with any group, but jumped into the back of a slow-moving truck heading from Quy Hop to Nghia Dan on Highway 48 to escape.

After chasing and beating two groups of young men who had run away, Tien's group turned back and saw Ho Ba Hoang jumping off the truck, so they ran back and were attacked by Hoang with a knife in the neck, causing minor injuries. Seeing this, Tien, Duc, and Quynh ran over with knives and iron pipes, hitting Hoang in many parts of his body, causing him to fall unconscious on the street.

Hoang was taken to the emergency room by passersby and treated at Tay Bac and Viet Duc hospitals. On May 4, 2018, Mr. Ho Ba Hung (Hoang's father) filed a petition to prosecute and requested an assessment of the disability rate on Ho Ba Hoang's body. The investigation agency conducted an assessment and found that Hoang's disability rate was 42%.

It is known that the defendants have bad personal records and criminal records. Specifically: Nguyen Van Tien was sentenced by the Nghe An Provincial Court for "theft of property" in 2003, with a total sentence of 13 years in prison for "robbery" and "intentional injury". Defendant Nguyen Van Duc was administratively punished in 2017 for harming the health of others. Defendant Truong Van Chuyen has not yet served his sentence for "disturbing public order" and defendant Tran Ngoc Hoang has not yet served his sentence for "abuse of trust to appropriate property" and is still entangled in legal trouble.

The panel sentenced defendant Nguyen Van Tien to a total of 9 years in prison for the crimes of “intentionally causing injury” and “illegal possession of explosives” (during the investigation, Quy Hop District Police searched Nguyen Van Tien’s residence and discovered and seized 6 bars of compressed powder suspected to be industrial explosives, 6 metal tubes with electric wires suspected to be detonators, 5.55 grams of dried plant stems and leaves suspected to be marijuana, and 1 sharp sword).

Defendant Nguyen Van Duc was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison; Dau Quoc Quynh to 5 years in prison, both for “intentionally causing injury”. Defendant Tran Ngoc Hoang was sentenced to a total of 7 years and 8 months in prison for “intentionally causing injury” and “abuse of trust to appropriate property”. Defendant Truong Van Chuyen was sentenced to a total of 7 years and 6 months in prison, both for “intentionally causing injury” and “disturbing public order”.

Regarding civil liability, the defendants must compensate the victim Ho Ba Hoang more than 171 million VND.