The heartbreaking pain of a wife when her husband heartlessly threw his newborn baby down the well
(Baonghean.vn) - Having just gone through a painful childbirth, Ms. Hong received a heartbreaking pain when her husband threw their newborn baby down a well. The reason was simply because her husband suspected his wife of taking 500,000 VND. Despite the extreme pain, at the trial, she asked for a lighter sentence for her guilty husband.
On the last day of July, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong (23 years old) went to the People's Court of Nghe An province to attend the first instance trial of her husband - defendant Truong Van Dat (22 years old), residing in Dong Ban village, Dong Hop commune, Quy Hop district, for the crime of murder. This was a rare trial where the father was the defendant, the child was the victim, and the mother was both the legal representative of the victim and the defendant's wife.
Until now, after more than 4 months have passed, but the family members still do not understand why Dat behaved so cruelly towards his child. They are heartbroken, if the tragedy had not happened, perhaps now Ms. Hong's little child would be learning to crawl, crawl...
 |
| At court, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong asked for a lighter sentence for defendant Dat. Photo: Tran Vu |
Like many other village girls, after graduating from high school, Ms. Hong decided not to take the university entrance exam but to work as a factory worker. Through friends, she met Dat, a young man one year younger than her.
Far from family, but sympathetic to the situation, the two came together without realizing it.When Dat brought the love story home to tell his family, Hong's fetus was already big. A quick wedding took place in early 2019. More than 2 months later, on March 15, Hong gave birth to her first child by cesarean section at the hospital. After 1 week of hospitalization, on March 22, the mother and child were discharged home.
Having her first child early, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Xuan (Dat's mother) was visibly happy and quickly prepared a small meal to celebrate the happy day of the big family. During the meal, Dat drank a few cans of beer. After finishing the meal, Dat went into the house to get money to buy medicine and discovered that 500,000 VND was missing. Dat asked his wife "did you take the money?" and Hong answered "no". After that, the two sides argued. In a fit of anger, Dat slapped Hong, causing his wife to fall to the ground. In pain and humiliation from being beaten by her husband during her confinement period, Hong went out to the kitchen and cried.
 |
| Witness recounts the incident. Photo: Tran Vu |
Dat went into the house and saw his child crying so he carried him outside. Seeing this, a relative told Dat to take his child inside the house to avoid the wind. Dat took his child inside the house but the child was still crying. At that moment, Dat suddenly thought that the newborn child was not his child so he carried him behind the well. As he walked, Dat muttered, "You value money more than your child's life" and then dropped his 7-day-old child into the well.
“Seeing Dat carrying his child outside, I and a few others ran after him to stop him but it was too late. When we pulled the child out, it was too late,” a witness reported the incident. According to the forensic results, the 7-day-old child, who had not yet been registered for birth, died of drowning, and his body had many bruises.
In court, Dat confessed that he threw the child down the well because he suspected his wife of taking the money and suspected that the child was not his. The court asked: "What crime did the child commit that you threw it down the well?" Dat answered: "No, I was angry with my wife so I did that." "Do you think what you did was wrong?" The court said sternly. Dat answered yes in a small voice, then lowered his head.
Carrying the pain of losing her child to court, but when speaking as the legal representative of the victim, this woman asked for a reduced sentence for the defendant. She stated: “When the incident first happened, I was very angry with my husband. I love my child, but after all, the defendant and I are husband and wife, so I ask the court to consider reducing the sentence for the defendant.”
 |
| Defendant Truong Van Dat was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu |
After the great shock, Ms. Hong is currently staying at her maternal grandparents' house in Nghi Loc district. She only visits her parents' house when her husband's family has something to do. Sitting next to her daughter-in-law, Ms. Xuan could not contain her pain. Ms. Xuan sadly said: "On the day my daughter-in-law gave birth, I could not see her face clearly because she had just had eye surgery. But now I do not have the chance to see her anymore. It is very painful."
The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s murder was a crime. Just because of an unfounded suspicion of another person, the defendant took away the right to life of an innocent child. However, it is also necessary to consider some mitigating circumstances of the defendant such as the defendant’s honest confession, first-time crime, although the defendant finished 5th grade but was not fluent in reading and writing, so his legal awareness was limited.
Considering the whole case, the court sentenced Truong Van Dat to 20 years in prison. That was a severe sentence under the law. But what was more painful for Dat was the remorse, the torment of a heartless father who threw his child down a well. This pain would follow Dat for the rest of his life.
Her husband went to prison, her young child was gone forever, Ms. Hong left the courthouse in tears. Before she could enjoy her newlywed life, the young woman had to endure the tragedy. However, she still chose to forgive to ease the pain and let the guilty person realize his wrongdoing.
