Young man defends friend, stabs 2 people to death

On September 24, 2020, the High People's Court opened an appeal hearing forNguyen Xuan Ngoc(born in 2001); residing in hamlet 7, Dien Tho commune, Dien Chau district for the crime of "murder" due to an appeal requesting a reduction in the defendant's sentence.

Ngoc is the defendant in the case.Two young men were stabbed to death overnight because they failed to invite them to drink.in Dien Chau district once caused a stir in public opinion.

According to the indictment, Ngoc is a worker at a company based in Hanoi. On December 12, 2019, Ngoc returned to his hometown from Hanoi for a military service examination. At about 9:30 p.m. on December 16, while drinking coffee, Ngoc asked his friend Hoang Trung (born in 1999) to take him to National Highway 1A to catch a bus to Hanoi.

Ngoc then went home first to pack her luggage, including a fruit knife. After finishing preparing, Ngoc called Trung to take her to catch a bus. At that time, Trung was eating snails with his friend from Dien Tho commune. When Trung was about to get up to leave to take Ngoc, Cao Thai D. (born in 1997, Dien Trung commune), Le Van A. (born in 2000) and Cao Van Ch. (born in 1994, all living in Dien An commune) came to toast.

Defendant Nguyen Xuan Ngoc at trial.

Seeing Trung get up and leave, D., A., Ch. followed, stopped the motorbike and said: "Why did you come to invite me to drink and then leave?" Trung replied: "I have to go home to pick up my friend to catch a bus to Hanoi, when I get back I will drink with your family." After that, Trung went to Ngoc's house to pick her up and took her along the inter-commune road towards Dien Tho - Dien Loc. Seeing that, D., A., Ch. also got on their motorbikes and chased after her.

When he caught up, Trung stopped his car and asked the group of young men, “What’s the matter?” At this time, A. said, “Do you like to tease?” and then used his hand to hit Trung on the head. Being hit, Trung used both hands to cover his head.

Seeing his friend being beaten, Ngoc got out of the car, took out a knife and said: "What's the matter that you beat my friend?" D. then hit him in the head. Feeling hurt, Ngoc took out the knife and stabbed the group of young men randomly.

Ngoc's stab caused D. and A. to die from perforated heart and lungs.

After stabbing someone, Ngoc took a bus to Hanoi. On December 17, 2019, thinking about his actions, Ngoc took a bus to the police station to surrender.

At the first instance trial, the People's Court sentenced Nguyen Xuan Ngoc to life in prison for the crime ofKilling. The defendant is required to compensate the victim Le Van A.'s family nearly 150 million VND, compensate Cao Thai D.'s family 146 million VND, and compensate Cao Van Ch. more than 45 million VND.

After the first instance trial, the victim’s family filed an appeal to increase the defendant’s sentence and force the defendant to pay additional compensation for mental damage and alimony to the victim’s family. At the trial, the defendant presented documents proving that he had partially compensated the victim’s family. The appellate court accepted the defendant’s appeal, but also stated that the incident was partly the fault of the victims.

After reviewing the entire case, the panel of judges decided to uphold the sentence for defendant Nguyen Xuan Ngoc and force the defendant to compensate the remaining amount according to the first instance judgment.