The young wife's pain

(Baonghean) - With two young children to raise, she knows better than anyone the hardship of not having her husband by her side. But for the sake of making ends meet, the couple had to borrow money to raise over 100 million dong as required by the company so that her husband could go abroad for work, nurturing his dream of escaping poverty. Unexpectedly, their trust was misplaced, and that honest dream tragically took his life with a fatal knife blow…

Ms. Nguyen Thi Dat and her family at the trial.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Dat (born in 1989), dressed in a simple cotton shirt and wearing a mourning headscarf, arrived at the court early with her two children (the older one 3 years old, the younger one less than a year old) to attend the trial of the man who murdered her husband. The young mother's face was haggard, weighed down by worry. She stared intently at her husband's killers, then gazed anxiously at the hallway where her two young children stood bewildered. Her eldest child, though 3 years old, was severely malnourished and unsteady on her feet. She bumped into an adult, fell to the floor, and screamed in pain. Ms. Dat rushed to help her up, comforted her briefly, and then quickly handed her over to her grandmother to continue attending the trial. The young couple's farming work yielded meager income, leaving them constantly burdened with debt, especially since their daughter, Ngoc, was born frail and frequently hospitalized.

Clinging to farming, they feared they would never have a chance to improve their lives, as the money they earned barely covered the expenses of their child's medical treatment. The couple discussed sending Hanh abroad for work. “After borrowing and mortgaging over a hundred million dong, and with a referral, Hanh went to the Cosevco branch in Nghe An to complete the procedures for working in Angola. The total cost the company required was 5,500 USD. After paying the required amount, the company told him to wait for his flight date. He waited and waited but never received a call. Meanwhile, they heard that Vietnam hadn't yet established a labor export agreement with Angola, and that going there would be considered illegal. So Hanh went to the company to demand a refund. They only returned 3,000 USD, so Hanh and his father went to request a full refund. Tragically, he lost his life before he could get his money back,” Mrs. Dat sobbed.

According to the indictment of the Nghe An Provincial People's Procuracy, the defendant Pham Viet Van was the Director of Cosevco Company's Nghe An branch, and also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sona Joint Stock Company, which had its office at the Cosevco branch. Both companies were only permitted to recruit workers for export to Malaysia. However, Van also provided visa and airline ticket services to Angola. On the morning of January 21, 2013, Mr. Hanh and his father, Nguyen Quang Minh, went to the Cosevco branch office to demand the return of their deposit. Upon learning that Mr. Hanh and his father had come to demand their money, Pham Viet Van (born in 1974, residing in Vinh City) instructed Le Van Trong (born in 1961), Nguyen Van Thanh (born in 1963), and Cu Hoang Oai (born in 1987) to call Ho Duy Nga (born in 1970, residing in Vinh City) to evict Mr. Hanh and his father from the company. Ho Duy Nga called Ngo Quang Hung (born 1970), Pham Van Nguyen (born 1991), Nguyen Van Hoan (born 1991), and Ton That Hoang (born 1989) to the company to take Hanh and his son out.

However, upon arrival, fearing that Mr. Minh might cause trouble, Hung's group hesitated. Over the phone, Van instructed Oai, "Tell Thang (Nga) to drag him out and threaten him." After failing to persuade Hanh to come to a coffee shop for a talk, Nguyen's group dragged him outside the company steps to beat him. Mr. Minh used a helmet to hit Nguyen to free his son, but Hai restrained him. Hanh tried to run away but tripped over Nguyen, who stabbed him in the back. Nguyen Quang Hanh died on the way to the hospital.

Afterward, Oai called Pham Viet Van to report the situation. Van said he would go to the hospital where Hanh was taken for emergency treatment to handle the matter. However, Van did not go to the hospital but went home instead. Pham Van Nguyen was prosecuted for murder. Pham Viet Van, Director of the Cosevco Company Branch, was prosecuted for two charges: "disturbing public order" and "failure to report a crime." Nine other individuals were prosecuted for the crimes of "disturbing public order," "concealing a crime," and "failure to report a crime." At the trial, Pham Viet Van claimed he did not know Hanh had died until he was summoned by the investigating agency, therefore the charge of "failure to report a crime" was incorrect. However, according to the representative of the Nghe An Provincial People's Procuracy presenting documents at the trial, after Hanh was stabbed, Le Van Hai took the victim to the hospital for emergency treatment.

Pham Viet Van later went to pay the hospital fees but learned that the victim had died, so both of them left to attend a wedding. “The defendant was unaware of the hospital regulations, so he did not pay the hospital fees for Mr. Hanh. The defendant did not know that Mr. Hanh had died until he was summoned by the investigating agency,” Pham Viet Van asserted. When the representative of the People's Procuracy announced the list and content of Van's phone calls to subordinates regarding Mr. Hanh's stabbing death, Pham Viet Van appeared weak and replied, “I don't remember.” Throughout the trial, Pham Viet Van did not admit to the criminal acts as stated in the indictment. Van stated that he only asked someone to “arrange” Mr. Hanh's matter, not to assault the victim. “If you hadn't instructed them, would the other defendants have called someone to escort Mr. Hanh out of the company?” the representative of the People's Procuracy asked.

Pham Viet Van replied, "I don't know!" Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh, representing the victims at the trial, stated: "At the time the incident occurred, Vietnam had not yet signed a labor cooperation agreement with Angola. Therefore, Van's company's announcement of recruiting workers to Angola was fraudulent. Furthermore, when the agreement could not be fulfilled, Van did not return the full amount to us but deliberately delayed to evade responsibility, thus misappropriating property. When my son came to demand the money back, Van called thugs to beat and kill my son; therefore, Van is the mastermind in this murder." Mr. Minh argued that prosecuting Pham Viet Van for "disturbing public order" and "failure to report a crime" was inconsistent with the defendant's criminal conduct.

After deliberation, the panel of judges concluded: Following instructions from Van and Trong, Pham Viet Van enlisted individuals outside the company, not those holding positions of responsibility for maintaining security and order, to resolve the situation, resulting in the death of Nguyen Quang Hanh. During the trial, Pham Viet Van was uncooperative and exhibited a distorted understanding of the law, therefore he must bear primary responsibility and be isolated from society. The panel sentenced Pham Viet Van to 2 years imprisonment for disturbing public order and 6 months imprisonment for concealing a crime. Combining both charges, Pham Viet Van must serve a total of 2 years and 6 months imprisonment.

For the crime of murder, Pham Van Nguyen received a 15-year prison sentence. In addition, Nguyen is responsible for providing monthly support of 600,000 VND per child for the victim's two children until they reach adulthood, and 300,000 VND per person for Hanh's parents. Ho Duy Nga and Nguyen Quang Hung were each sentenced to 2 years in prison for disturbing public order and 1 year in prison for failing to report a crime. The remaining defendants were sentenced to 12-15 months in prison for disturbing public order and 6-9 months for failing to report a crime. Two of Pham Viet Van's employees, Le Van Trong and Nguyen Van Hoang, were sentenced to 15 months in prison for disturbing public order.

In this case, Dang Thi Hong Nhung (born in 1984) - Hung's girlfriend - despite knowing that Nguyen and his accomplices stabbed Hanh to death, allowed Hung, Nguyen, Hoan, and Hoang to stay at her rented room. She then helped Hung rent a location for the suspects to evade the law, and was prosecuted for concealing a crime and sentenced to 6 months of suspended imprisonment with a 12-month probation period. Le Van Hai (born in 1989) was sentenced to 6 months of suspended imprisonment with a 12-month probation period for failing to report a crime. The trial concluded with the sentences, but Ms. Dat and her husband's family believe the sentence handed down to the director of Cosevco Company is unsatisfactory and will petition the Supreme Court for justice for her husband. At over twenty years old, with two children to raise, that fateful knife attack has plunged the young wife's life into even greater uncertainty, leaving her with an indescribable pain of losing her husband.

Khang Hoa