A father's pain when his daughter goes to prison

The trial of defendant Va Y Mo (born 1987), residing in Tri Le commune, Que Phong district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking" took place on a winter day, cold as cutting skin, cutting flesh. The trial proceeded quite quickly when the defendant admitted to the crime.

According to the indictment, at about 5:00 a.m. on May 27, 2022, Mo woke up early to take his motorbike to the field to weed and met his neighbor Ly Nhia Tho. This person asked Mo to take a package to the neighboring village to deliver to Vu Xay Denh. When approaching Denh's house, Mo was signaled by the Traffic Police Team of the District Police to stop for an administrative inspection.

Defendant Va Y Mo was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

At this time, Mo immediately turned the car around and threw the bag into the garden of a house by the roadside. Immediately after that, Mo was stopped and arrested by the police. When checking the bag that this woman threw into the house, they discovered that it contained 2 heroin cakes weighing more than 710g.

At the trial, when questioned, Mo said she did not know the package contained drugs but thought it was medicine for a stomachache. "My neighbor asked me to take it, and it was on the way so I helped," the defendant said. However, later, the female defendant admitted that she knew the package was heroin but had not received any payment. The defendant hoped to receive leniency from the law so she could go home and raise her children. Mo's eyes filled with tears: "I have three young children, my husband is working for hire in the South. The day I was arrested, I asked the police to tell my family to let my husband come home to take care of the children." After saying that, Mo turned around but saw only empty rows of benches.

When the trial was almost over, a group of people rushed into the court, speaking to each other in the Mong language. The judicial police had to come to remind and maintain order, and invite the three children out. “Those are Mo’s three children,” said Mr. Va Ba D. (55 years old, defendant Mo’s father). Looking at his daughter standing on the witness stand, the father repeatedly raised his hand to wipe away his tears, choking up, “She’s so foolish.”

The defendant's father was sad when attending his daughter's trial. Photo: Tran Vu

According to Mr. D., Mo and his wife had 3 children, the first 2 were left at home with their grandparents, the youngest followed his parents to Binh Duong to work. When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, Mo and his wife lost their jobs. At the end of 2021, they took a risk and drove thousands of kilometers back to their hometown by motorbike. When they got home, Mo's whole family had Covid-19 so they had to be quarantined for a while.

When the epidemic was basically under control and there was no work in the countryside, Mo and his wife decided to return to the South to work for hire. “My daughter told her husband to go first and she would stay behind to wait for the children to start school and then come back. That was the plan, but before she could carry it out, she was arrested by the police,” the father sadly said.

Then he emotionally told that since his daughter was arrested and his son-in-law went to work, he and his wife took responsibility for raising their three grandchildren. “The two older children are understanding and often ask about their mother. The youngest child, only 3 years old, plays carefree during the day, but at night he cries and asks for his mother…”, Mr. D. shared.

Since his daughter was arrested, the financial burden has become even greater. This man has to take care of his paralyzed wife and work more in the fields to earn money to raise his grandchildren. However, to encourage his daughter, he arranges his work, saves money, visits her every month, and sends words of encouragement. “I just hope she realizes her mistakes, corrects them, and finds a chance to start her life over again,” he lamented.

The defendant's three children stood crying in the hallway of the court. Photo: Tran Vu

During the trial, the defendant’s three children stood outside the courtroom. The three-year-old girl kept reaching out her tiny hand toward her mother, her mouth continuously calling “Mom, Mom” in an unclear Kinh language. Hearing her child’s call, the defendant turned back. The four mother and children were only about 5 meters apart, but the distance seemed so far away. Each call of “Mom” from her child was like a needle stabbing into the heart of the foolish mother. And Y Mo covered her face and cried, with regret, torment, and late remorse...

The trial ended with a 20-year sentence for the defendant Va Y Mo. Seeing her mother being taken away, the older sister hurriedly carried her younger sister, waiting at the place where she guessed the police would take her mother. It seemed that Mo was hidden, so she did not realize that her children were waiting for her. When her mother left, the little girl covered her face and burst into tears…