A single knife cut through friendship, igniting deep pain.

A cruel knife attack

Tran Tuan Huy (born in 1995) and Pham TT (born in 1994) were friends, living in the same ward in Vinh City (Nghe An province). Being close friends, they were always together at every gathering, from going out and drinking to singing karaoke. However, after a fateful drinking session and karaoke outing, their friendship was shattered when one passed away and the other faced legal consequences.

According to the indictment, on the evening of August 3, 2024, after drinking alcohol, Huy and Mr. T. went to a karaoke bar. At 11:30 PM that same day, Mr. T.'s wife unexpectedly arrived at the karaoke bar and a conflict arose with Huy. During the argument, Huy swung his hand and hit his friend's wife. The pregnant woman, feeling wronged, recounted the incident to her husband. Afterwards, Mr. T. called Huy to confront him and demanded a meeting to clarify the matter.

Around midnight on August 4th, T. arrived on his motorbike in front of Huy's house. Believing his friend had come to fight, and being intoxicated, Huy grabbed a knife and went out to confront him. At this point, T. opened the motorbike's storage compartment and, using foul language, asked, "Why did you hit my wife?" As soon as his friend finished questioning him, Huy pulled out the sharp knife tucked into his waistband and stabbed T. in the chest.

After being stabbed, Mr. T. ran away in panic, but Huy chased after him. At this point, Mr. T. turned back with the knife and stabbed Huy in the side and back before falling to the ground. After being stabbed again in the back by Huy, Mr. T. managed to run a short distance before falling a second time.

In pain, T. tried to tell Huy, "You stabbed me." Thinking his friend was faking it, Huy ignored him and kicked T. Only when he saw T. bleeding profusely did Huy stop and call an ambulance, taking him to Nghe An Friendship General Hospital. However, it was too late…

Knowing his friend wouldn't survive, Tran Tuan Huy surrendered to the police and confessed to all his crimes. Afterward, Huy was taken for examination by the authorities. The conclusion from the Northern Central Forensic Psychiatry Institute showed that before, during, and after committing the crime, and at the time of the examination, Tran Tuan Huy suffered from mental and behavioral disorders due to the use of hallucinogenic substances (resulting in personality and behavioral changes and some moderate mental disorders).

At the recent trial of Tran Tuan Huy for murder, the defendant testified that he was drunk that day and therefore lost control of his actions. Huy claimed he did not intend to kill his friend but did not expect things to go so far.

That day, after stabbing Mr. T. and discovering he was bleeding profusely, Huy went home to get his motorbike to take his friend to the hospital. The defendant testified that he had only driven his friend a few dozen meters on the motorbike. But when his friend, who was sitting behind him, fell to the ground, the defendant immediately called an ambulance.

During the questioning by the panel of judges, the defendant stated that he suffered from depression and required regular medication, therefore he could not clearly remember the details of the incident. The defendant admitted his wrongdoing and offered his apologies to the victim's family. The male defendant stated that during his detention he felt constantly tormented by his actions against his friend, as they had been close friends for many years.

The pain of two women

Sitting quietly in court, the victim's wife recounted the events of her visit to the karaoke bar to meet the defendant. She claimed that the defendant had repeatedly lured her husband to "unwholesome" places. Therefore, upon hearing that her husband had gone to karaoke with Huy, she went to confront him out of anger. After returning home, she told her husband about being assaulted by Huy, and shortly afterward received a phone call with the terrible news about him.

With a choked voice, she recounted that on that evening, upon hearing the news of her husband's stabbing, despite being pregnant with her third child, she rushed to the hospital. When her husband passed away, she struggled to handle all the funeral arrangements. The grief of losing her husband caused her to suffer a mental breakdown, affecting her health.

However, she had to persevere for the sake of her unborn child and her two young children. About a month after giving birth, she returned to work at a small hair salon to earn money to support her children. To attend today's trial, the young widow had to leave her 3-month-old baby with relatives. Given the immense pain and loss, the victim's family representative demanded that the defendant pay 1.5 billion VND in compensation.

The trial dragged on as the court allowed both sides to reach a settlement regarding civil compensation. However, upon hearing the victim's family's request, the defendant's mother hesitantly explained their difficult circumstances. The haggard 57-year-old woman stated that she herself was in poor health and her husband was suffering from cancer. After her son committed the crime, she had to take care of the young grandchildren because Huy and his wife had divorced.

The defendant's mother stated that, knowing human life is priceless, after the tragic incident, she tried to borrow money to compensate the victim's family with 215 million VND. Now, the family is trying to find ways to further compensate the victim's family. She then asked the victim's family to lower the compensation amount. However, the two sides failed to reach an agreement, so they both presented their case to the court for handling according to the law.

Meeting the victim's family in court, the distraught mother apologized on behalf of her son. She then shared her struggles with her son's long-term depression. According to her, Huy's depression had affected his health and personality, and she requested the court to consider mitigating circumstances to reduce his sentence.

During the recess, relatives brought the two children close to Huy to talk. Seeing his two young children, the defendant broke down in tears. Huy choked up as he instructed his youngest daughter to write letters to him when she learned to write. He also reminded his children to obey their grandparents and relatives, and to study hard to become good people. The reunion of the father and his two children was interrupted when the judges announced the verdict.

The court determined that the defendant's actions violated the law and were dangerous to society, therefore requiring strict punishment to serve as a deterrent and preventative measure. However, mitigating circumstances such as surrendering to the authorities, showing remorse, having limited cognitive abilities and control over their actions, and having influenced their family to compensate the victim's family for funeral expenses and partial emotional distress should also be considered.

After a comprehensive review of the case, the court sentenced the defendant Tran Tuan Huy to 17 years in prison for "murder". Regarding civil matters, the court ordered the defendant to compensate the victim's family with over 268 million VND and provide monthly support of 1.2 million VND per child for the victim's three children until they reach the age of 18.

The case concluded with a verdict for the defendant, but the pain never truly ended for those left behind. On one side was the young wife, struggling to raise three young children after the death of her husband; on the other was the frail, suffering elderly mother, burdened by the guilt of her son's actions that caused such tragedy for his best friend. If only Tran Tuan Huy and Pham TT had been calmer, if only they had known to step back from their anger, perhaps the two families would not have suffered such irreparable losses.