The pain of two women after a serious murder case

The first and second instance trials of defendant Nguyen Ba Chin (born in 1975), residing in Nghi Kieu commune, Nghi Loc district, for murder took place at the People's Court of Nghe An province, with many people attending.

Among those hundreds of people, the image of a woman with austere, gray hair sitting quietly in the courtroom made many people feel sorry. She is the mother of Nguyen Ba Quy (born in 1983) - the victim in the murder case in which Chin was the perpetrator.

To raise 6 children on the barren land in Nghi Kieu commune, the couple had to work very hard. She struggled both physically and mentally, because one of the 6 children had a mental illness. However, the mother still worked hard in the fields to provide food and clothing for her children.

In recent years, as the children grew up and got married, the burden on their mother's shoulders gradually lessened. However, disaster suddenly struck when she heard that her son Quy was stabbed to death by his neighbor, Chin, just because of a slip of the tongue.

Nguyen Ba Chin at the appeal hearing. Photo: Tran Vu

It was February 4, 2018, Nguyen Ba Chin went to help with a wedding for a family in the neighborhood. When it was getting dark, Chin stayed to have dinner with the homeowner. At this time, Chin took out his phone to call his friend Tran Van Loi (born in 1980) to come home for dinner. However, when he picked up the phone, Loi did not say anything but only heard someone say "fuck you, you can listen to anyone".

Feeling insulted, Chin took a knife and ran to the billiard hall to find Loi. Chin did not accept Loi's explanation that Tran Ba ​​Quy was standing next to him joking. At that time, Quy was standing next to him and said to Chin: "What do you want now?" Chin immediately pulled out a knife and stabbed Quy in the chest and was repeatedly hit in the head. Both were taken to the hospital for emergency treatment, but Quy died, and Chin suffered a 61% disability, with a sunken head due to a skull defect.

At the first instance trial held in early December 2018, she asked the panel of judges to try the defendant in accordance with the law. “My child died because of the defendant’s knife. Therefore, I request the court to handle the case strictly,” she said in court.

The court of first instance sentenced Nguyen Ba Chin to 17 years in prison. The defendant was ordered to compensate the victim’s family 151 million VND, provide 1 million VND/month for the victim’s 2 children until they turn 18, and provide 500,000 VND/month for the victim’s mother.

Disagreeing with the above sentence, Nguyen Ba Chin filed an appeal for a lighter sentence. The appeal hearing for the murder case took place on a day at the end of April 2019.

Just a few months after the first instance trial, the victim's mother looked much more miserable. Speaking at the high court, the defendant's mother trembled as she said that although the case had happened more than a year ago, the pain of losing her son still seemed to have not subsided in her mind. Every time she closed her eyes, she thought of her poor son. To let her son go in peace, she requested the court to judge him according to the law.

The victim's mother speaks at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

Sitting on the other side of the bench, the defendant’s wife was equally distraught. Her husband had committed a serious murder, leaving the 43-year-old woman unable to look up at anyone. Throughout the trial, she kept her eyes on the defendant, whose head was dented.

To have money to treat her husband for a whole month in the hospital and to compensate for the victim’s family’s losses, the defendant’s wife had to run around everywhere. Raising three school-age children by herself, working in the fields, and now worrying about her husband’s health, along with the large compensation to the victim’s family, made the woman emaciated.

With the desire to compensate for some of the pain of the victim’s family, she and her relatives borrowed 110 million VND to send to the victim’s family. At this trial, the defendant’s family continued to compensate the victim’s relatives with an additional 20 million VND, hoping that the upcoming verdict would reduce Nguyen Ba Chin’s sentence somewhat.

In response to the apologies of Nguyen Ba Chin and the defendant's relatives in court, the victim's mother accepted the apologies, but still requested the court to try the case according to the law.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s actions were dangerous to society and had deprived others of their right to life. The court of first instance had tried the defendant correctly. However, the defendant’s honest confession and the family’s active compensation for part of the victim’s family’s losses. The defendant’s family had relatives participating in the revolution were considered mitigating circumstances for the defendant. The appeals court decided to reduce Nguyen Ba Chin’s sentence from 17 years to 14 years.

The court ended, the defendant’s wife seemed to be hesitant to turn to her sick husband and to ask the victim’s mother. The victim’s mother hurriedly left the courtroom to go home. Because, about 30 kilometers away, her mentally ill child, whom she had to ask someone to look after, needed her.