Elderly mother struggles to go to court to see her cancer-stricken daughter before going to prison
(Baonghean.vn) - Although throughout the trial, the female defendant calmly gave many reasons to justify her mistakes, when she met her nearly 80-year-old mother with white hair, Chung burst into tears. The erring child continuously clasped her hands to apologize to her parents...
Suffering from a serious illness but still selling drugs
The People's Court of Nghe An province has just opened a trial for the case of "Illegal drug trafficking". The three defendants in the case include Vo Thi Chung (52 years old), residing in Vinh Tan ward, Vinh city; Lau Ba Va (31 years old) and Xong Ba Xua (61 years old), both residing in Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district.
In this case, the female defendant Vo Thi Chung was identified as the initiator and leader of the heroin trafficking ring. Short and stocky, Chung stood between her two accomplices. Compared to the time she was first arrested with a bald head, on the day of her trial, defendant Chung had a different appearance with thick, black hair.
The indictment shows that Chung and Xua had a previous acquaintance. In May 2022, Chung went to Ky Son district to discuss buying and selling drugs with Xua. After receiving a customer's order, Xua and his wife's nephew, Lau Ba Va, agreed to contribute 75 million VND to buy 1 heroin cake to sell for profit. The two estimated that if the deal was successful, they would make a profit of 55 million VND.
After many contacts, at the end of August 2022, Va bought 1 heroin cake (353 grams) from a Laotian of unknown address and origin. Despite many contacts, it was not until the end of October that Va was able to finalize the time and place of the transaction with Chung.
On October 19, 2022, when Lau Ba Va brought drugs to deliver to Chung at the meeting point in front of the gate of Tuong Duong District Hospital, he was discovered and arrested by the police. Based on Va's testimony, the authorities arrested the two remaining suspects in the case, Vo Thi Chung and Xong Ba Xua.
During the trial, the defendants admitted their crimes. The female defendant Chung said that she had terminal cancer that had metastasized to many important organs in her body. She heard others say that drugs help relieve pain, so she bought them. The female defendant justified: “I intended to buy 1 tael, but Xua said they only sell from 1 heroin cake or more…”.
Regarding the VND128 million that the authorities seized from him when he was arrested, Chung stated that he used the money to treat his serious illness. However, because he had not yet had a follow-up examination, he used the money to traffic drugs.
The female defendant burst into tears several times when talking about her illness. The cancer cells had metastasized, defendant Chung was undergoing maintenance treatment, and did not have much time left. In her final statement before the court deliberated, Vo Thi Chung burst into tears, stating that she realized her mistakes, and hoped that the Trial Council would consider giving her the lightest sentence possible, so that she could have the opportunity to return to her family and receive treatment...
"If you don't listen to your mother, you will be ruined in every way."
As the court entered the session, a white-haired woman tried to get closer to the female defendant sitting there to talk. Her name was H. (78 years old) - defendant Chung's mother. In the moment of reunion, she choked up and told her son: "Try to reform well, fight the disease."
The mother also did not forget to remind her daughter to take care of herself, “don’t worry about me.” In the eyes of the nearly 80-year-old mother, whose hair was almost completely white, her daughter had grown up but was not wise. Then she tried to speak loudly so that her daughter sitting above could hear, “I told you, if you don’t listen to your parents, you will be ruined in a hundred ways.”
Hearing his mother’s accusations, the defendant covered his face and cried many times. Chung repeatedly apologized to his mother for not fulfilling his duty as a filial son. Not only did his failure in marriage upset his mother, Chung also violated the law and is now about to be sentenced to prison. Although angry with her daughter, the mother had to put it aside to go to court to give words of encouragement. Because she knew that she was near death and her daughter was carrying a “death sentence”, would the two of them still have many opportunities to meet each other…
The court determined that the defendants' criminal acts were very serious, causing disorder in the locality and being the seed for other crimes, and needed to be severely punished. However, after considering some mitigating circumstances, the court sentenced each defendant to 20 years in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking".
During the moment of separation from his mother, defendant Chung repeatedly turned his head to look after her with eyes full of remorse. His silver-haired mother struggled to leave the court. Her hands tightly gripped the railing of the stairs, as she walked she kept saying, “My daughter has cancer”…
