The pain of a mother who followed her son to court three times

In and out of prison because of "two fingers" disability

“This is the third time I have followed Dich to court. It hurts a lot, but I think he is my own child, so I want to encourage him. But if he doesn't change, my husband and I don't know if we will have the chance to see him again,” said Nguyen Thi Binh (61 years old), resident of Dien Xuan commune, Dien Chau district, in a choked voice when attending the trial of her son Truong Thuong Dich (33 years old) - also a defendant in the case “Illegal drug trafficking”. Appearing in court with Dich, a fellow countryman, defendant Ngo Si Nam (32 years old) was prosecuted for the crime of “Illegal drug trafficking”.

Dich is the only son of Mrs. Binh and her husband. According to his mother, while his sisters were all well-behaved, hardworking, and had stable lives, Dich was rebellious and had a bad temper early on. Despite his family's support, Dich did not finish high school and dropped out.

After dropping out of school early and hanging around in the countryside for a while, Dich packed up and went to the South to work as a hired hand. It is unclear how this young man hung out with his social friends, but a few years later, Mrs. Binh's family received news that their son was arrested by the Phan Thiet City Police (Binh Thuan Province) for his involvement in a property theft case. Truong Thuong Dich was sentenced to 4 years in prison in 2010. His son served his sentence in the South, so Mrs. Binh and her husband could only take a bus to visit him once.

The mother looked at her child in a daze in court. Photo: Tran Vu

After Dich finished serving his sentence, because he wanted his son to return to his hometown to avoid social evils, Mrs. Binh and her husband bought a buffalo. “The purpose was to create a job for him. We calculated that if we invested in buying a buffalo, after a few years of taking care of it, we would earn more than ten million dong. But after only a short time of tending the buffalo, he stopped working,” Mrs. Binh said about her stubborn son.

Her son was a vagabond and had no stable job, which made his mother always afraid of being lured and reoffending. Then, her fear became reality. In 2015, Dich continued to be involved in another theft case and was sentenced to 8 years and 6 months in prison by the People's Court of Quy Hop district.

This time, Dich was serving his sentence at a prison in Quang Binh. Traveling was difficult, so Mrs. Binh only packed her belongings once to visit her son. “I myself get carsick and am in poor health, so I cannot take a long bus ride. The last time I went to Quang Binh to visit him, I came home sick for a long time. As for my husband, his health was getting worse, so although he missed his son, he could not,” Mrs. Binh said.

In December 2020, Truong Thuong Dich finished serving his second sentence. “After Dich went to prison twice, my husband and I thought of a way to help him reform. We were poor and my husband and I were constantly sick, so we decided to sell a plot of land to get money to renovate the house so that Dich could move in, get married, and have children. My husband and I also planned to use part of the money from the land sale as capital for him to do business. However, he was arrested because of his best friend...”, Mrs. Binh left the sentence unfinished.

The mother's clasped hands

The “friend” that Mrs. Binh mentioned in her story was defendant Ngo Si Nam. Nam and Binh were the same age and lived in the same village. In addition to being close friends since childhood, the pair also had something in common: they had both been in prison for having a “two-fingered” disability.

According to the case file, at the end of 2020, after completing his sentence for theft, Nam contacted his former inmate to ask for a source of drugs to buy. Introduced by this person, Nam contacted Tung (a Laotian) to order "goods". On January 25, 2021, after learning that Tung was coming to Vietnam, Nam contacted and ordered 40 million VND worth of drugs. After receiving the advance payment from Nam, Tung informed him of the time and place to receive the goods.

Ngo Si Nam then hired Truong Thuong Dich to pick up the “stuff”. Dich understood that his friend was asking him to pick up the drugs, so he agreed. On the morning of January 29, Dich rode his motorbike to the mountainous district to pick up the drugs for Nam. On the way back, Dich was arrested by the police with 150 grams of drugs as evidence. Based on Dich’s statement, the investigation agency arrested Nam.

At the trial, while defendant Nam admitted to buying and selling drugs, Dich did not admit to transporting drugs for his friend. Dich said that because they were friends, when Nam asked him to pick up the “stuff”, he agreed to help his friend. “The defendant did not know it was drugs until he was arrested by the police,” Dich said.

Throughout the entire time she sat listening to the jury question her son, Mrs. Binh kept clasping her hands in prayer. Her worry for her son was evident on her wrinkled face.mother's sadnessThis person said: “At the age of 33, he also worked for hire in many places, but my husband and I have never received any money from him. On the contrary, we have to earn money to send to visit him in prison...”.

The deliberation that day went by rather quickly and the child did not turn to ask or apologize to his mother, leaving Mrs. Binh only able to watch her child from afar. Occasionally, she bent down and raised her calloused hands to wipe her eyes...

Although Dich did not plead guilty, based on the testimony of defendant Nam, the court determined that the prosecution of defendant Truong Thuong Dich for the crime of illegal drug trafficking was the right person, the right crime, and the right law. Therefore, the court sentenced Truong Thuong Dich to 20 years in prison. Defendant Ngo Si Nam had many mitigating circumstances, so the court sentenced him to 20 years in prison for the crime of illegal drug trafficking.

Looking at her son in prison for the third time, Mrs. Binh said in tears: "After 20 years in prison, will my husband still have the chance to see his son when his illness is so serious..."