The loneliness of a drug dealer living alone on his trial day

The trial of Va Pa Co (born 1968), residing in Nhot Kho village, Bac Ly commune, Ky Son district, for the crimes of "Illegal drug trafficking" and "Illegal possession of military weapons" took place on a day at the end of August.

As soon as she was led into the courtroom, she looked around, hoping to find a trace of her wife or children, but saw only empty rows of benches.

While waiting for the court to start, Co sat quietly, her face sad. The defendant Co honestly said that she had two wives. The first wife was born in 1973, the second wife was 2 years younger. The two wives had 6 children but it was unclear why they did not come to court today.

When asked by the court: “Why did you take many wives? Did you know that this was a violation of the Law on Marriage and Family?”, she replied: “Because they fell in love with you and you could not bear to refuse either of them, so you decided to marry both of them.” The defendant admitted that you knew that this was a violation of the State’s Law on Marriage and Family, but because it was “too late”, you continued to live together like that for many years.

Evidence of the case. Photo archive

And Pa Co also innocently boasted that despite living with “one husband and two wives”, there were rarely any conflicts in the family. Both wives were content with their responsibilities and jobs in the house.

As for Va Pa Co, to make a living, the defendant went to work in the fields every day. And one time, while hoeing the land in the fields - around the beginning of February 2019, she was invited by a subject to participate in drug trafficking. Being a drug addict herself, she met an ethnic man named Lau Ba Xi (Lao) and asked "do you want to buy drugs?". Because she had no money, she only answered ambiguously "I want to buy but I don't have money". Xi immediately said he would let her borrow money, and when she sold the "goods", she would pay later.

Faced with the seller's "generosity", Co agreed to buy drugs on credit. Then, Xi gave Co a bag of drugs containing 350 carefully wrapped pink pills and 6 taels of heroin. Xi told Co to sell them for 30,000 VND/1 pink pill and 1.6 million VND/1 tael of heroin. Thus, the total amount of money that Co bought from the man named Xi was more than 20 million VND.

Not only was she “favored” to buy drugs on credit, she was also trusted by the seller because she kept a homemade gun, a duckbill grenade, 3 bullets, and a small scale. She kept the drugs and weapons under her bed in her shack.

At 6:00 p.m. on March 10, 2019, when she was selling 2 pink pills for 100,000 VND to 2 men (names and addresses unknown), she was discovered and caught red-handed by the police. Being suddenly surrounded and arrested, she used a gun to fight back fiercely, causing a detective to be injured in the face and have a broken tooth. The evidence seized in the case was 29.4 grams of methamphetamine and 24.33 grams of heroin and the military weapons she used.

Standing before the witness stand, she admitted that because she was addicted to drugs, she agreed when someone invited her to go drug trafficking. The defendant admitted that she knew this business was against the law, but because of the large amount of money, she took the risk.

With 2 charges, Va Pa Co received a sentence of 17 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

Having the last word, she told of her family’s difficult circumstances, with many children and poverty. “The defendant trafficked drugs, which is a violation of the law, but I ask the court to reduce my sentence so that I can have a chance to return to my children. My children are still very young. I feel guilty towards them,” she stated in court.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s actions were dangerous to society. Because of greed, he recklessly traded drugs despite knowing that it was strictly prohibited by law. The fact that this was the defendant’s first offense, he confessed honestly, lived in a particularly difficult area, and had limited legal awareness were mitigating circumstances in the case.

Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced Va Pa Co to 16 years in prison for “Illegal drug trafficking” and 1 year in prison for “Illegal possession of military weapons”. The total sentence that the defendant Va Pa Co must receive is 17 years in prison.

Because of greed and drug addiction, Va Pa Co could not overcome the temptation of illegal money. With a 17-year prison sentence, hopefully she will realize her wrongdoings and reform, soon have the opportunity to return to make up for her mistakes with her wife and children, especially the child who is less than 1 year old but has been separated from his father since birth.