The pain of a sick mother when her child is in prison

"He said he would go work another trip so that his mother and I would have money to spend during Tet."

One day in late October, it was pouring rain in Nghe An, but in Dien Ky commune, Dien Chau district, a 24-seat passenger bus still departed for Vinh city. This was a special trip because the neighbors pooled money to rent a bus to go to Nghe An Provincial People's Court to attend the trial of the son of Ms. Nguyen Thi H. (65 years old), defendant Nguyen Tan Thinh (24 years old) for the crime of ""Trading in prohibited goods". Accomplices in this case include Thai Huu Thanh (30 years old), residing in Tang Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Defendant Vo Duc Thang (26 years old), residing in Dien Lien commune, Dien Chau district, was prosecuted for two crimes: "Trafficking in prohibited goods" and "Illegal possession of narcotics".

Throughout the court session, Ms. H. kept wiping away tears. Photo: Tran Vu

Mrs. H. had a mental illness and was in poor health, so she was always taken care of by her neighbors. As soon as she saw her son escorted to court, the mother could not hold back her tears. As if not wanting her son to see her cry, Mrs. H. tried to press her lips tightly together, but the tears kept falling. A neighbor sitting next to her shared: “I feel so sorry for her. Her husband passed away, her two grown children have moved out and only Thinh is left. Mother and son depended on each other to live for a while, but 3 years ago, Mrs. H. became mentally ill, she was absent-minded, sometimes even climbed up the wall and sat like a ghost. Feeling sorry for her mother, Thinh took her to many places for treatment but to no avail. She could only rely on Thinh, but he…”

Thinh is the youngest of three siblings. His father died, so he grew up under the care and love of his mother. When his siblings moved out, Thinh stayed by his side to take care of his mother. To have money to take care of his family, Thinh followed his friends to Thailand to work. Working far away helped Thinh earn more money to take care of his mother, but he had to trade off being away from his relatives. Therefore, Thinh decided to return home to spend time with his mother. When he returned home, Thinh worked many jobs until someone introduced him to Laos to work as a cargo handler for a boss named Nguyen Canh Phuong (46 years old, residing in Dien Lien commune, Dien Chau district).

Defendants in court. Photo: Tran Vu

On January 4, 2020 (December 10 of the lunar calendar), Thinh and some people followed their boss to Laos to pick up goods. “He told Mrs. H. that Tet was coming up soon, so he wanted to make another trip to earn money for the mother and child to spend during Tet. But…”, the neighbor shook his head.
After completing customs procedures at the border gate, at 4:00 p.m. on January 5, the passenger bus driven by Thang arrived at a Lao warehouse about 3km from the border marker between Xieng Khouang and Luang Prabang provinces.

Here, under the direction of the boss Thanh, Thinh and Thang loaded the goods (pots, pans, woks) from the passenger bus to the warehouse floor. Then, under the direction of Phuong, the three loaded wood and firecrackers onto the homemade bunkers at the back and belly of the passenger bus. Although Phuong did not clearly state the origin of the goods or the purpose of transporting them to Vietnam, during the loading process, Thang, Thanh and Thinh discovered that the goods contained in the boxes were firecrackers.

Before returning to Vietnam, Thang also bought 3 pills of drugs from a Laotian to use. At 6 p.m. the same day, the subjects boarded a passenger bus to complete departure procedures to return to Vietnam.
When the car arrived at Khanh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, the Yen Thanh district police checked and discovered 468 boxes on the car.cannon, weighing 555 kg; 3 drug pills weighing 0.255 grams; 700 clove wood sticks weighing 2.38956 m3; 4 legs of a bear; 1 skeleton of a bear; 2 fire leopards. Thinh and Thang were arrested by the police immediately afterwards. Thai Huu Thanh returned to Vietnam from Laos to surrender and admitted his crime.

Mother's pain

During the entire time she sat watching her son's trial, Mrs. H. kept wiping away her tears. Fearing that her mental state was not good, the neighbors who accompanied her occasionally took her to the hallway to sit. A neighbor said: "Knowing that Thinh committed a crime and must be punished by the law, I felt sorry for Mrs. H. a lot. Before he was arrested, Thinh lived a very reasonable life. Although he was a young man, he was very hard-working. Especially when his father passed away, he loved his mother even more. When Mrs. H. became mentally ill, he used money to seek treatment everywhere. Every time his mother was hospitalized, Thinh quit his job to follow her to take care of her."

The doctor concluded that her nerves were affected, so every month her relatives took her to the hospital for examination and to get medicine to treat her at home. When her illness flared up, her mental state was not normal. Therefore, her relatives always limited telling sad stories for fear that she would be shocked. For that reason, when Thinh was arrested by the police, everyone agreed to hide the news from her.

During Tet 2020, when her son did not return from work, Mrs. H. went to ask everyone. Relatives and neighbors had to lie about the car breaking down in Laos, so Thinh could not return home to celebrate Tet with his mother this year. "After Tet, we continued to lie every time she asked about her son. Everyone felt sorry for her. Her husband passed away, her son was in trouble with the law, and she herself was sick, so we often went to visit and encourage her," the neighbor shared.

Defendant Thinh covered his face when he saw his mother crying. Photo: Tran Vu

About two months ago, relatives and neighbors had to tell Mrs. H. the truth because they knew they could not hide it forever. “When she heard that her son was arrested, she cried. We then had to take her to the hospital in case of an emergency,” said a neighbor. On the day of Thinh’s trial, neighbors decided to pool money to go to court with Mrs. H.’s relatives. Those who could not go to court sent gifts to cheer Mrs. H. up.

Regarding the crime of Trafficking in Prohibited Goods, the panel of judges determined that although the defendants claimed that they loaded and unloaded fireworks because they were hired by Phuong, they were aware that fireworks were a commodity banned by the State from circulation on the market, but they still assisted Phuong in transporting them to Vietnam. The defendants did not declare it to the authorities. The defendants' actions were serious, violating the State's monopoly policy on the management of prohibited goods. If this action is not detected and handled promptly, it will have unpredictable consequences, causing disorder and insecurity in the area.

In this case, defendant Thang played an active role in assisting Phuong. Thang was the driver into the warehouse as well as in the process of loading the fireworks onto the passenger bus and transporting them to Vietnam. As for Nguyen Tan Thinh, he was the one who participated in loading and unloading the fireworks onto the passenger bus and then transported them to Vietnam with Thang. Although Thinh slept during the journey to the border gate, considering Thinh's role in this case, he also actively assisted Nguyen Canh Phuong in loading and unloading the entire passenger bus and directly entered the car's basement to load the fireworks.

After considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel sentenced Nguyen Tan Thinh to 2 years in prison for Trafficking in prohibited goods. For his active role in assisting Phuong, defendant Vo Duc Thang was sentenced to 9 months in prison for Illegal possession of narcotics, 30 months in prison for Trafficking in prohibited goods; The total sentence for defendant Thang was 3 years and 3 months in prison. Defendant Thai Huu Thanh was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison for Trafficking in prohibited goods.

Regarding Nguyen Canh Phuong, according to the confessions of Thang, Thinh, and Thanh, Phuong was the one who directly directed the subjects to load the fireworks onto the passenger bus and transport them to Vietnam. When arriving at Nam Can border gate, Phuong returned to Laos. The investigation agency of Yen Thanh district police has prosecuted Nguyen Canh Phuong for the crime of Trafficking in prohibited goods and issued a wanted notice for Phuong, and will handle the case later when he is arrested.