81-year-old mother struggles to go to court to 'reunite' with her errant daughter

The child "likes to eat prison food"
Courtroom No. 2, Nghe An Provincial People's Court, on a day at the end of January, was crowded with people attending. They were relatives of two defendants who were being tried by the court for crimes related todrugWhile defendant Nguyen Thi Thinh (54 years old), residing in Dien Hong commune, Dien Chau district, was prosecuted for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking"; defendant Tran The Anh (33 years old), also residing in Dien Hong commune, was prosecuted for the crime of "Illegal possession of drugs".

Defendant Nguyen Thi Thinh was imprisoned for the third time with a 20-year sentence for drug use. Photo: Tran Vu

This is not the first time that the two defendants Thinh and Anh have appeared in court. In 2004, Thinh was sentenced to 18 months in prison for “Illegal possession of narcotics”. 3 years later, Nguyen Thi Thinh was sentenced to 9 years in prison by the People’s Court of Dien Chau district for “Illegal trading of narcotics”.

Thinh’s accomplice, defendant Tran The Anh, was not far behind when he was imprisoned twice for two crimes: “Theft of property” (12-month sentence) and Drug trafficking (8-year sentence). In 2015, Anh completed his sentence, but continued to be involved in drugs as an addict.
According to the case file, on August 7, 2020, Thinh went to Tri Le commune, Que Phong district to visit his daughter. During this time, Thinh went to Tri Le commune market to meet a Mong man he knew from before and bought 10 packages of drugs for 12 million VND. When receiving the goods, Thinh was given a "tip" of 1 package of drugs by the seller. 2 days later, Thinh took a bus back to his hometown,hiding drugson the roof
On August 11, Tran The Anh contacted Thinh to buy a package of drugs for 5 million VND. In order to avoid detection of the drug transaction, the two had a very sophisticated way of exchanging. First, Anh put the money to buy drugs in a cigarette pack and threw it at Thinh's gate. After receiving the money, Thinh put the drugs in toilet paper and placed it in front of his gate before going in. When he saw no one around, Anh went to get the drugs and left.
After buying the drugs, Anh took out a small amount of drugs to use, the rest he brought to a hotel in Dien Hong commune and was caught red-handed by the police with 19 grams of drugs. Based on Anh's statement, the investigation agency conducted an emergency search of Thinh's residence and discovered more than 220 grams of drugs.
In court, the two defendants admitted to their crimes. Regarding the origin of the drugs, Thinh said he bought them while visiting his daughter in Tri Le commune. The defendant admitted that he committed the crime out of greed. The defendant Anh said he bought the drugs for his own personal use, not to sell for profit.
The pain of an old mother
Among the large crowd of people attending the trial, the image of the mother with gray hair and a thin figure made many people feel sorry. She is the mother of the defendant Thinh. Every time it was her daughter's turn to testify before the jury, Mrs. Bui Thi C. tried to lean forward to listen. Her eyesight was dim and her hearing was hard, so it was very difficult for the 81-year-old mother to see and hear.

Ms. C. was escorted to court by relatives to meet her daughter. Photo: Tran Vu

Mrs. C.'s life was a series of hard work and hardships. She and her late husband had 9 children together, of which Thinh was the third. About 20 years ago, her husband fell ill and passed away. Therefore, the economic burden and the care of the children were shouldered by Mrs. C. alone. When the children grew up, she single-handedly married each of them off with the hope that they would settle down and have a stable life. However, her wish was not fulfilled when Thinh was repeatedly in and out of prison. Her daughter's broken marriage also multiplied her sadness.

When her daughter was released from prison twice, the mother encouraged and advised her to turn around to correct her mistakes and take care of her children and grandchildren. But then, Thinh was arrested again for drugs, which made her heart ache. She was angry with her son, but she could not abandon her erring child. Therefore, today, even though she was sick and had difficulty walking, she still decided to go to court to see her daughter. Her steps were difficult, so she was helped into the courtroom by her children.
Seeing his mother in the final minutes of the trial, Thinh could only cry and choke up to apologize. At that moment, Mrs. C. also shed tears. She tearfully encouraged her daughter to take care of her health so she could reform… Defendant Tran The Anh was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

Before leaving the court, she sadly shared: “I am old and have many illnesses, so I don’t know when I will die. But with a 20-year prison sentence, I know there will be no more chance for mother and child to meet each other in the countryside…”.

Saying that, she raised the scarf around her neck to wipe her eyes - the bitter tears of an old mother over 80 years old who had to witness her 54-year-old son going to jail...