The pain of a mother whose son appeared in court 7 times

7th time in prison

When he was just “full grown”, and had not yet been able to repay his parents, Nguyen Tat Thach forced his parents to work hard to support him during his years in prison. In 1994, Nguyen Tat Thach was sentenced to 12 months in prison for two crimes: “Theft of citizen property” and “Theft of socialist property”. In the same year, Thach was sentenced to 15 months in prison for “Robbery of citizen property”.

From then on, Thach went downhill in mistakes, being in and out of prison many times. In 1997, Thach was sentenced to 15 months in prison for “Theft of public property”. 2 years later, Thach committed the same crime as before. The only difference was that this time, Thach had to receive a heavier sentence of 6 years in prison.

In 2005, Nguyen Tat Thach was sentenced to 36 months in prison for “Theft of property”. After that, Thach did not violate the law, making his relatives secretly happy. But the joy did not last long, as in 2014, Thach was imprisoned for 3 months for “Illegal detention”. After being released from prison for a while, Thach was arrested for “Concealing a criminal”, and his relatives once again dragged him to court.

Phan Trong Son, Nguyen Tat Thach and seized evidence. Photo: Binh Nguyen

Regarding this crime, according to the case file, around the beginning of March 2022, Thach was invited by Phan Trong Son (born in 1964), residing in Hung Binh Ward (Vinh City) to go to Cau Treo Border Gate (Ha Tinh) to play. However, Son's actual purpose was to get drugs, which he had previously contacted the seller many times.

Specifically, Phan Trong Son (also known as Son the Short) has 3 previous convictions for drugs and was released from prison in mid-2021. This is a very cunning and crafty subject. With some previous relationships, Son connected with foreigners to find sources of drug supply. Son then recruited "henchmen" to form retail outlets, supplying drugs to addicts in the area. Son often rented many cars, used fake license plates and surveyed the area many times before buying and selling drugs.

At midnight on March 6, Son drove near Cau Treo Border Gate and went alone to get drugs hidden in an electric pole. At around 2 a.m. the same day, when Son and Thach were on their way to Vinh City, the police stopped the car for inspection. Seeing this, Son backed up and told Thach, "Something's wrong, throw away my bag." Thach opened the car door, took the bag of drugs and ran away, but was arrested by the police. Searching Son's house, the authorities also discovered several more packages of drugs that he said he bought to sell for profit.

Phan Trong Son and Nguyen Tat Thach at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

The investigation agency determined that in this case, Phan Trong Son must bear criminal responsibility for the illegal purchase and sale of more than 5.8 kg of drugs. When Nguyen Tat Thach learned that Son was buying and selling drugs and was asked by the police to stop his car, he took the drugs and ran away to prevent the police from detecting him, so he must bear responsibility for the act of not reporting the crime.

Mother's pain

On October 6, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a criminal trial of defendant Phan Trong Son (born in 1964), residing in Hung Binh Ward (Vinh City) for the crime of "Illegal trading of narcotics"; defendant Nguyen Tat Thach (born in 1977), residing in Ha Huy Tap Ward (Vinh City) for the crime of "Failure to report a crime".

In front of the witness stand, Nguyen Tat Thach confessed sincerely, showing remorse. The defendant said he did not know about Son's drug trafficking. Defendant Thach said he only knew that the bag Son claimed was drugs when he was discovered and arrested by the police. Accordingly, this defendant presented his difficult circumstances and young children to ask the court to consider reducing his sentence.

Considering the case as a whole, the Trial Panel found that in this case, the defendant Phan Trong Son bought and solddrugWith an exceptionally large amount of money, the court sentenced Phan Trong Son to death. Defendant Nguyen Tat Thach was sentenced to 4 years in prison for the crime of "Failure to report a crime".

Defendant Nguyen Tat Thach was sentenced to 4 years in prison for the crime of “Failure to report a crime”. Photo: Tran Vu

In the crowd at the Nghe An Provincial People's Court, the image of a woman with gray hair, limping with difficulty into the courtroom caught the attention of many people. Ms. Nguyen Thi N. is the mother of Nguyen Tat Thach. Although Thach knew that Phan Trong Son had bought and sold a large amount of drugs, she concealed it, making it difficult for the investigation agency to solve the case.

Throughout the court session, Mrs. N. sat quietly. Sometimes she raised her calloused hand to brush her face. Sometimes, the 76-year-old mother put her head down on the chair, her face tired. She said that because her husband was sick and had a hunched back, he could not come to court to see his son today. Even though she was tired, she still asked someone to take her to the Provincial Court.

Pointing to her thigh, she said that this was the reason why she had difficulty walking. Before that, the accident injured her leg and affected her health. However, she still tried to work and take care of her second son - Nguyen Tat Thach.

Ms. Nguyen Thi N. sent a message to her son. Photo: Tran Vu

Listening to her son’s explanation, Mrs. N. sat below with her head bowed. She said that since Thach was arrested for the 7th time, his wife had gone to work far away and had not returned to take care of their son. “Sometimes, my daughter-in-law asks relatives to come and take my son home for a few days, but he does not come back to live with her. My son is in prison, my daughter-in-law has left, so now my husband and I have to take care of our grandchild. We don’t know what his future will be like, when we are old, and with our small salary, we can’t even buy medicine and pay for his education…”, Mrs. N. sighed.

Talking about her son who had been in and out of prison many times, Mrs. N. shook her head. She had advised her son many times to work hard and not break the law, but it was all in vain. She said that one year, on the first day of Tet, she sat down and talked to her son, begging him not to play around and break the law anymore. But then, what she received were further sentences from the law for her "unruly" son.

Her son was in court for the seventh time. The elderly mother struggled to get closer to her son to give him some instructions. Her weak voice seemed to be lost in the vast courtroom.

The trial ended, Mrs. N. and everyone left the court with difficulty. At this moment, she was probably worried not only about her grandchild’s future, but also whether Thach would realize his mistake and turn around, or commit the same crime as many times before, and then she and her husband would not have enough strength to wait for the day their son returned… Hopefully, Nguyen Tat Thach felt those worries and tried to make amends, even if it was late!