Heartbreaking scene of father with cancer on crutches attending trial of son's killer

Brought 5 year old boy into the forest to blackmail

Another murder trial, trialDao Ngoc Hoang(born in 2003), residing in Quynh Tam commune, Quynh Luu district, there were many people attending. Among the crowd wearing mourning scarves to the court that day was a skinny man with a haggard face, struggling to move with 2 crutches. He was the father of the victim in the case, named Ho Van Tu (58 years old).
Mr. Tu himself has suffered from arthritis for more than ten years, making it difficult for him to move around. In recent years, he has also been diagnosed with colon cancer, which has further weakened his health. “His health was already poor, and since his son died, he has become even thinner and more exhausted. It is an effort for him to maintain his spirit until today to attend the trial of the person who murdered his son,” said a person attending the court, shedding tears.

Mr. Ho Van Tu came to the court on crutches. Photo: Tran Vu

How could he not be shocked and devastated when Hoang took away the right to live of his only son, Ho Tran Van D. (5 years old). The pain was so great that when he heard the representative of the Procuracy exercising the right to prosecute in court read the indictment, Mr. Tu's eyes turned red. Meanwhile, his wife seemed unable to keep calm in the face of such great pain. The woman cried loudly, holding her son's portrait tightly.

At 6 p.m. the same day, Hoang returned and saw that D. had fallen down the stream bank, so he brought her up, tied her body and legs with vines, and then left.
At the same time, because their son did not return from playing, Mr. Tu and his wife and the locals rushed to look for him. Extracting the camera footage from a resident's house, people saw Hoang carrying D. so they asked him, but the male student always claimed he did not know. At 2:00 p.m. on June 8, Hoang bought bread, sausage, and milk and went into the forest where D. was tied up and discovered that the victim had died.

However, Hoang did not inform his family and everyone but remained silent until he was summoned by the police to work.

On June 9, three days after taking D. into the forest, Hoang admitted to his crime and led the police to the scene. The cause of D.'s death was determined to be respiratory suffocation due to her nose and mouth being covered and her throat being choked.

Defendant Dao Ngoc Hoang. Photo: Tran Vu

Because the defendant was under 18 years old, the trial was under the guardianship of his parents. The trial also had representatives from the local government and the school where Hoang studied. At the trial, the presiding judge clarified the defendant's purpose and motive leading to the tragic death of D. Defendant Hoang confessed to taking D. to an abandoned house in the forest to play games. At this time, the defendant had the idea.blackmail.

Hoang stated that the amount of money he intended to demand from the victim's house was about 12-20 million VND. This came from watching clips on his phone and following them. However, because D. had died, Hoang was unable to carry out his intention. "The defendant is an 11th grade student, what is the purpose of needing such a large amount of money?", a judge asked, and the defendant stated that he took the money for personal use. The defendant did not specify what he used it for, but admitted to playing games on his phone.

During the sentencing, it seemed like all the pent-up emotions were pushed out, causing the victim’s mother to cry. Relatives quickly helped her out into the courtroom. “My child, your parents were sick so it took them a long time to give birth to you. When you were born, your parents were so happy, but now you are gone. It hurts so much, my child,” Ho Thi Tri cried.

Relatives brought the victim's portrait to the court. Photo: Tran Vu

Because her husband has been sick for a long time, Tri's family's finances are very difficult. The whole family can only rely on the wife's job of peeling acacia bark for hire. The amount of 150,000 VND/day is nothing compared to the husband's medical expenses. Because of that, their family is always considered near-poor. Because of their poor health, the couple did not dare to "find" another son. Until 2014, with the hope of having a son to continue the family line, the couple decided to have a third child. And happiness came when they had baby D. The birth of the little child helped the family atmosphere become more joyful, and Mr. Tu's spirit was more excited. However, that joy did not last long when Mr. Tu discovered he had late-stage cancer. He himself had many serious illnesses, so since the day he was given a "death sentence", his health became weaker. Therefore, the shock of losing a child made the man even weaker. A relative said that since the loss of his only son, he has been depressed and has not bothered to eat or seek medical treatment. His wife is mentally unstable and sometimes thinks negatively.

For the crime of murder, defendant Dao Ngoc Hoang was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In terms of civil matters, the court ordered the defendant’s parents to compensate the victim’s family 169 million VND.

According to Hoang's statement, the purpose of arresting D. was to demand ransom from D.'s family. However, the investigation determined that D.'s family did not receive any threats or ransom demands from Hoang. Therefore, there is not enough basis to conclude that Hoang's actions constituted the crime of "Kidnapping for the purpose of appropriating property".
The trial ended late at noon, Mr. Tu left the court with difficulty, crutches in hand. On the other row, the defendant's parents were also leaving sadly...