A father's pain after his son slashed his sister-in-law

Sister-in-law ran away with her child because her husband slashed her.

The appeal trial of Dinh Huu Tinh (34 years old), residing in Dai Dong commune, Thanh Chuong district, for the crime of “Murder” opened by the Hanoi High People’s Court took place on a hot day. From early morning, the defendant’s father, along with his daughter-in-law and her husband, were present at the provincial court. In this case, he attended asguardianfor the defendant Tinh. Because before committing the crime, Tinh was diagnosed with epilepsy. His second daughter-in-law - Ms. Le Thi Thanh Ng. attended the court as a victim.

Being pregnant in the last months of her pregnancy made it difficult for Ms. Ng. to move. When recalling the incident of her husband slashing her head and arms multiple times, she was haunted. With many injuries on her body, she had to stay in the hospital for a while. Luckily, she survived, but the rate of bodily harm caused by the injuries was 26%. This victim said that after the heartbreaking incident, she and her husband also asked her husband's parents for permission to live separately.

Although she was slashed many times by her husband, at the appeal hearing, she asked the panel of judges to consider reducing the defendant's sentence. She gave the reason that after all, there was a brother-in-law and sister-in-law relationship between the two. Moreover, her brother-in-law had suffered from epilepsy for a long time and was in poor health. She hoped that her husband would soon have a chance to make amends, because the conflict between the two was extremely trivial, just because of serving dinner.

Regarding the case, at noon on June 21, 2022, Tinh asked Ms. Ng. to prepare food for her to eat. Because she was holding her child, the child cried again, so she told her husband to "serve and eat by yourself". Tinh refused and continued to ask her sister-in-law to prepare food for her to eat. However, because she could not calm the child down and was scolded by her husband, Ms. Ng. angrily said, "If you want to eat, get a wife and come home and I will prepare it for you to eat".

Because the child cried even louder, Ms. Ng. carried the child out into the yard. At this time, Tinh ran to get a knife and repeatedly slashed his sister-in-law's head and arms. Afraid that Tinh would slash her child, Ms. Ng. bent down and carried the child to the neighbor's house to call for help. Tinh continued to chase after her and slashed his sister-in-law's head three more times. The incident only stopped when the neighbor intervened.

Authorities determined that the victim suffered 26% bodily harm from the injuries. After the incident, Tinh was diagnosed with epilepsy, which limits his ability to perceive and control his behavior.

The court of first instance sentenced the defendant Dinh Huu Tinh to 8 years in prison for "Murder". Afterwards, the defendant's guardian filed an appeal requesting that Tinh be considered for medical treatment or for a reduced sentence. At the appeal hearing, the defendant's father, who is also Tinh's guardian, maintained his appeal. He said that his son had suffered from epilepsy for a long time and the family wanted to take him for medical treatment.

Attending the court as the victim, Ms. Ng. asked for a lighter sentence for the defendant, and at the same time accepted some responsibility for speaking harshly, causing her husband to act out of control. In addition, the victim also said that although the court of first instance did not award civil compensation, the defendant's representative compensated her for medical and hospital expenses.

A father's feelings

In the hallway of the courtroom, the defendant's father shared sad stories about his son who was brought to trial. According to him, Tinh was healthy and gentle when he was born. But when he was in high school, Tinh developed epilepsy. "Because of epilepsy, when he took the high school graduation exam, Tinh disappeared and no one knew where he was. His family and everyone organized a search for him until they found him. Because his illness was still mild at that time, the family hoped that he would retake the exam the following year. But as time went on, his illness became more severe, so he had to give up studying and taking exams," he shared.

While his peers went to vocational school and looked for new jobs, Tinh just stayed at home. On days when he was well, Tinh helped his parents herd the buffalo and cows. Whenever he had an epileptic seizure and fainted in the middle of the house, his relatives rushed him to the hospital. The defendant's father said that Tinh's medical examination and medication book was now thick.

The father was worried, also because of his illness, after only about 3, 4 months of living together, Tinh's wife decided to divorce. After that, the defendant asked for a new wife several times but was rejected by the girls in the village. The defendant's relatives speculated that Tinh was dissatisfied because his wife left him and other girls rejected him. Therefore, when his sister-in-law said "get a wife and I will cook for you", Tinh acted out of control.

Since his son was detained, his father has visited him many times and sent money for Tinh to buy medicine. During his detention, Tinh fell ill and fainted many times. He hopes the court will reduce his son's sentence so that his family can take him for treatment and care soon.

Considering that at this trial the defendant had a number of mitigating circumstances, the appellate court accepted the appeal of the defendant's guardian, reducing the sentence from 8 years to 7 years in prison for Dinh Huu Tinh for the crime of "Murder".

His son’s sentence was reduced by 1 year, which also relieved the father of some of his burden. He quickly left the court, returned to his daily life, and worked to earn money to pay for Tinh’s medical expenses while serving his sentence.