The pain of a woman who lost her child and had her husband sentenced to death

Confession of the killer of two people

More than half a year has passed but people in Bai Son commune, Do Luong district are still haunted by the case of Le Dinh Ngoc (born in 1980, residing in Bai Son commune) who stabbed his daughter and her boyfriend to death. The pain and confusion are still there but behind the case is a heartbreaking story,tragedy of a family.

Therefore, at the trial of defendant Ngoc for murder, many people were present in the courtroom. In the witness row, there was a woman who kept crying. She is the wife of the defendant and also the mother of the victim Le Tam N. (born 2005). It seems that the pain of losing her daughter and seeing her husband in prison at the same time made Ms. Nguyen Thi Th. (37 years old) collapse.

Defendant Le Dinh Ngoc was sentenced to death. Photo: Tran Vu

According to Ms. Th., N. is the eldest daughter of the couple. While studying in high school, she dropped out of school to follow her boyfriend, Ho Quoc A. (born in 2004, residing in Khanh Son commune, Nam Dan district). The family strongly opposed the dropping out of school, but the stubborn teenage daughter did not listen to her parents. In addition, the fact that the daughter borrowed money from many people to spend during the time she was away from home made her parents angry.

The pent-up conflict, combined with the disagreement at the party meal, caused the tragedy to happen on the evening of July 4, 2022. That day, Ngoc organized a meal to say goodbye to relatives who were preparing to go to the South to work. The meal was attended by her daughter and boyfriend Quoc A. Ngoc mentioned that her daughter and boyfriend were preparing to go to work when the two sides had an argument. Seeing her daughter arguing and speaking rudely to her, Ngoc intended to slap N. but was stopped by everyone. A moment later, Quoc A. drove his lover away from the farm.

At around 9pm that same day, Ngoc rode her motorbike to find her daughter and her boyfriend to talk. Discovering Quoc A. taking his daughter in the opposite direction, turning onto another road, Ngoc drove to block them. At this time, the couple abandoned their motorbike and ran into a house on the side of the road. Ngoc opened the trunk, took out two knives and chased after them.

Ngoc then broke open the door and rushed into the neighbor's house, stabbed Quoc A once in the chest and stabbed the girl several times. After committing the crime, Ngoc informed his relatives and then committed suicide by drinking pesticide. All three were taken to the hospital, but the doctors could only save Ngoc.

During the entire day of the trial, the defendant admitted to all of his crimes. Ngoc said he was angry because his daughter had dropped out of school to follow her boyfriend. Her family had advised her many times but to no avail. Furthermore, the fact that her daughter had borrowed money from many people while she was away from home made Ngoc angry.

Ngoc also stated that she later “gave in” and agreed to let her daughter date a boyfriend, but advised her to apply for a job at a company near home to consider marriage at the end of the year. However, the defendant was not satisfied with her daughter’s disobedience and wanted to go work far away, leading to an argument between the two sides. The defendant was afraid that her daughter’s boyfriend would call “social people” to handle the matter, leading to the murder. In addition, the defendant stated that she had been drinking that day, so she could not control her actions.

Several witnesses at the trial recounted how the defendant Ngoc often confided in her sadness about her daughter running away and not listening to her parents’ advice. This person also confirmed that Tam N. borrowed money from their son to spend.

Tragedy of a family

Speaking in court, the defendant’s wife cried several times. She admitted that she had not fulfilled her duties as a mother, and had not been able to teach and discipline her daughter in a timely manner. Ms. Th. also admitted that she knew that her daughter had borrowed money from many people. Once, she had given her daughter money without her husband’s permission when she contacted her to ask for it.

The defendant's wife cried many times, admitting that she did not teach her children in time. Photo: Tran Vu

“My husband and I work on the farm, so we are so busy that we cannot give our daughter timely advice. The fact that she dropped out of school and followed her friends makes us very sad. I have advised my daughter to go home and apologize to her father several times, but she refused,” Th. explained, crying.

The mother also admitted that she only knew that her son and his boyfriend were living in Vinh, but she did not know where they lived or what they did for work. The couple had never taken a bus to the city to look for their son.

Attending the trial as the legal representative of the victim Quoc A., the victim's parents requested compensation of 9 billion VND and the highest criminal penalty for the defendant. At the trial, the defendant apologized to the victim Quoc A.'s family and relatives.

The panel of judges determined that the case was of an especially serious nature, the defendant’s criminal acts were particularly dangerous, directly taking the lives of two people, including the defendant’s child. The defendant’s actions were hooliganism, disregard for the law, and the defendant was aware that his criminal acts would receive a severe sentence, but he still carried out his actions to the end.

Considering the nature and especially dangerous level of the defendant's criminal behavior, the court sentenced Le Dinh Ngoc to death for murder. Regarding the civil part, the court ordered the defendant to compensate Quoc A's family 261 million VND (minus 79 million already compensated).

The husband received the maximum sentence, the wife burst into tears and collapsed on the chair. It was too much pain for a woman to lose her child and her husband at the same time.