The pain of a mother whose son appeared in court 4 times

At 40 years old, while most of his peers are married and have children, Tran Hong Sy, a resident of Bao Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, is still single. Perhaps his past of being in and out of prison many times has prevented him from finding a small family. What makes parents like Mrs. Tran TT (76 years old) the saddest is that at the age of forty, her child is still serving a prison sentence.

Tran Hong Sy is the sixth child of the couple. After finishing primary school, Sy dropped out. Born early, Sy could not overcome the pitfalls of society and got into trouble with the law. At the age of 19, Tran Hong Sy began to be involved in crime with a 2-year suspended sentence for robbery.

For the fourth time in prison, defendant Tran Hong Sy was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

It seems that the suspended sentence did not deter this young man, instead Sy went deeper into the path of theft. In 2008, Tran Hong Sy was sentenced by a district court in Lam Dong province to 4 years and 17 days in prison for theft, and was released in court.

Her son was repeatedly imprisoned, causing Mrs. T. to suffer. Hoping that her son would turn around and reform, the mother encouraged and advised him. But then the unruly son continued to "repay" his mother by being sentenced to 18 months in prison for illegal possession of drugs. By the end of 2020, Sy had finished his prison sentence. But then the "unruly horse" continued to get into trouble with the law, causing his old mother to grieve once again.

In August 2021, Sy went to the market and met a taxi driver named Ngoc, so he hired him to take him home. On the way, knowing that Sy used drugs, this person said, "If you need to buy drugs, just contact me." Addicted to drugs, on the afternoon of September 26, 2021, Sy rode his motorbike to Dien Binh market (in Minh Chau commune, Dien Chau district) to find Ngoc to buy 2 packages of pink phien. After receiving 2 packages of pink phien from Ngoc, Sy gave 11 million VND.

Sy hid the drugs he bought under a brick next to his family's pond, taking out a small amount every day for use. On September 29, a customer contacted him to buy drugs and Sy quoted a price of 12 million VND. However, when Sy was delivering the drugs to the customer, he was arrested by the police with more than 39 grams of evidence.

The trial of defendant Tran Hong Sy for illegal drug trafficking proceeded quite quickly when all the crimes were clear. The defendant did not deny the crime but admitted to trading drugs for the purpose of using and making a profit. Sy stated that he had just been released from prison but because of his addiction, he continued to trade drugs even though he knew that his actions were against the law. The defendant expressed remorse and gave the reason that his family was in financial difficulty, now he only had an old mother, his father had passed away, and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence so that he could return to take care of his old mother.

The image of a mother suffering in court made many people feel sorry. Photo: Tran Vu

Listening to her son's presentation in court, Mrs. T. slightly bowed her head, her face wrinkled. During the entire trial, mother and son did not see each other, only communicating from a distance through eye contact. Her son's fourth appearance in court made the mother sad, but helpless. Because she had advised and taught him many times before, but his behavior was still the same.

The trial panel determined that the defendant's criminal behavior violated the law. However, it is also necessary to consider some mitigating circumstances for the defendant such as his honest confession, repentance, his family and father were awarded the First Class Resistance Medal by the State, his mother was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An province, and his maternal grandfather was a martyr. Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced defendant Tran Hong Sy to 15 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking.

When the judicial police led Sy to the van, Mrs. T. stood up and looked at her son blankly. Sy said nothing, waved his handcuffed hands, then walked back to the detention center, preparing for his fourth execution.