Man smashes cousin's skull with stick

On the morning of September 24, Nghe An Provincial People's Court tried the murder case against Hooc Van Man (born 1976), residing in Muong Tip commune, Ky Son district.

The victim of the case was Mr. Hooc Pho V. (born 1964), Man's cousin.

Before that, at around 4:00 p.m. on August 13, 2018, Mr. Hooc Pho V. called Man to his step-son's house to drink alcohol. There were several other people at the table. After drinking 1.5 liters of alcohol, Mr. V. was drunk and chased everyone away. Man saw Mr. V. overturn the table so he stood up and left.

At this time, Mr. V. used his hand to punch Man's left hand and used his foot to kick him in the left rib.

Studying Literature. Photo: Tran Vu

The next afternoon, on the way back from bathing in the stream, Man happened to see Mr. V. drunk so he took him home. At this time, Mrs. Moong Thi Kham (Mr. V.'s wife who was not registered to marry) gave Man 10 thousand dong to buy alcohol to drink. While drinking, Mr. V. said to Man, "I accidentally did it yesterday, let's sympathize with each other." Man accepted the apology and continued to "drink and drink" with Mr. V.

After that, this group continued to buy 10 thousand more dollars of wine to continue drinking. When they had almost finished the bottle of wine, Mr. V. told everyone to go home, but Mrs. Kham did not let them. V. said: "You are still here, do you want to play with my wife?" Man replied: "Don't say that, your wife is my sister."

At this time, Mr. V. used his hand to punch Man in the head and used his foot to kick Man's left side. Man went out the door and saw a wooden stick, 80 cm long, leaning against the wall. He picked it up and hit Mr. V. in the head, causing the victim to fall onto the bed, bleeding from his nose and ears. After beating the victim, Man went home to sleep.

Mr. V. was taken to the commune health station for first aid and then transferred to Nghe An General Hospital for treatment. On August 23, Mr. V. was sent home by the hospital. On August 25, Mr. V. died.

The forensic examination concluded that Mr. Hooc Van V. died from a skull fracture. After learning of the victim's death, Man went to the police station to surrender.

In court, the defendant admitted to the crime. Man said that he was angry at being beaten by Mr. V. for no reason, so he used a stick to hit the victim on the head. The defendant blamed it on “having been drunk that day.”

For the crime of “Murder”, Hooc Van Man was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In terms of civil matters, the court ordered the defendant to compensate the victim’s family for medical expenses and funeral expenses totaling more than 143 million VND, and to provide 500,000 VND per month for the victim’s youngest daughter until she turns 18.