Mother and uncle abuse and 'lead' children and grandchildren to beg, causing public outrage

On May 12, the People's Court of Xuyen Moc district (Ba Ria - Vung Tau province) opened a trial of defendants Dao Van Be (born in 1996, homeless) and Dao Thi Gai (born in 1982, residing in Xuan Bao commune, Cam My district, Dong Nai province) for beating andabuse, forcing her children to beg. Gai and Be are half-sisters.

According to the indictment, Dao Thi Gai had two husbands and had a total of 7 children. With her first husband, Gai gave birth to 2 children: VTTL (born 2001) and D.TH (born 2004). With her second husband, Gai gave birth to 5 children: NTMD (born 2010), D.NTTr (born 2012), D.NTT (born 2014), D.NTH (born 2016) and D.NTN (born 2017).

Defendants Gai and Be at trial. Photo: Quang Hung

All of them have registered residence in Xuan Bao commune, Cam My district and live with Mrs. Tran Thi Ri (born in 1965, the children's grandmother).

Around August 2018, Gai's second husband died, Dao Van Be came to live with Gai, Mrs. Ri and the children.

During their time living together, Bé and Đ.TH had a conflict with Mrs. Ri, so Bé took H. to Ba Ria City (Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province) to rent a place to live and beg. Here, Bé had sex with H. many times, and together they wandered around begging in many places in Xuyen Moc District.

In January 2019, Bé called Gái to invite her to live with him and Gái agreed. After that, Gái took her children from Dong Nai to live together and beg in many places in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.

During this time, Gai and Be discussed and agreed to threaten and force the NTMD and D.NTTr children to beg continuously, in many places in Xuyen Moc district to Ba Ria city and vice versa.

Specifically, every day if the two children asked for enough money of 900,000 VND and brought it home, they were given rice with soy sauce to eat. If they did not ask for enough money, Bé and Gái would scold them, use their hands, bamboo sticks, electric wires, electric mosquito rackets to beat them, electrocute them, and starve them.

When the children go begging, Bé and Gái follow behind to keep an eye on them. If any child does not actively beg, Bé and Gái will scold, remind, threaten, and beat them right there.

In early February 2020, when Be and Gai and their children were begging in Xuyen Moc district, they were discovered by Phuoc Buu town police, suspected of leading beggars and invited to come in for questioning.

At this time, Bé and Gái did not go to work but paid for the rented room and took the children away, went to Long Khanh City (Dong Nai Province) to rent a house to stay and continued to threaten and force the children to beg. At this time, H. was pregnant and showed signs of giving birth.

On February 15, 2020, H. gave birth to a baby boy named Ph. at Long Khanh Hospital. Two days later, to avoid paying hospital fees, Bé and Gái took H. and Ph. and escaped from the hospital.

More than 2 months later, Ph. died because after birth, Bé and Gái took Ph. to many places to beg, leading to illness. At this time, Bé and Gái took Ph.'s body to Hoang Quan cemetery (Long Giao commune, Cam My district) for burial. After that, these two people continued to threaten and force D. and Tr. to beg in many places in Long Khanh city.

After begging in Long Khanh City for a while, Be and Gai took the group to Phu My Town, Chau Duc District and Ba Ria City to continue renting a room and begging. Here, Be continued to have sex with H. many times.

During this time, due to frequent abuse, D. and Tr. discussed ways to escape. Their intentions were discovered and both were beaten by Bé and Gái.

Defendant Gai had tears in her eyes when she gave her final statement in court. Photo: Quang Hung

At the end of June 2020, taking advantage of the moment when Gai was not paying attention, D. and Tr. took the bus to escape to Mrs. Ri's house, telling in detail the incident of Gai and Be threatening, beating, and forcing them to beg.

After that, Mrs. Ri went to Xuan Bao Commune Police, Cam My District to report that Be and Gai had abused her grandchild. Upon receiving the report, Xuan Bao Commune Police coordinated with Xuyen Moc District Police to take Gai and Be to the headquarters for questioning.

During the investigation, the police determined that, in addition to the above brutal acts, from July to August 2020, Be also beat and raped VTTL (born 2001, residing in Ho Chi Minh City), Gai's daughter, at a motel in Nhon Trach district, Dong Nai province.

According to the injury assessment results, D. has an injury rate of 2%, Tr. 8% and H. 2%.

In court, defendants Be and Gai confessed to the crimes as charged in the indictment, however both denied some acts of beating the children.

Speaking in court, Ms. Ri, representing the victim, asked the panel of judges to reduce the sentence for her daughter-in-law. “I love her like I love my grandchildren. She is so confused, what can I do now? I ask the panel of judges to reduce her sentence,” Ms. Ri said in court.

After deliberation, the panel of judges decided to sentence defendant Dao Van Be to 3 years in prison for "Intentionally causing injury", 5 years in prison for "Torturing a child", the total sentence is 8 years in prison.

Dao Thi Gai received 2 years and 6 months in prison for "Intentionally causing injury", 4 years in prison for "Child abuse", total sentence is 6 years and 6 months in prison.

In this case, in addition to the above crimes, Bé also committed the crime of Sexual intercourse with a person from 13 to under 16 years old. However, the victim, H., is currently pregnant and does not meet the conditions for an examination, so the Xuyen Moc District Police Department has separated the case to handle Bé later.

In addition, from July to August 2020, in Nhon Trach district, Dong Nai province, Be also raped VTTL (born 2001), Be's niece. At the time of the crime, L. was over 18 years old and was subject to prosecution at the request of the victim. Although the investigation agency had notified her, Ms. L. had not yet submitted a request.