'Following in the footsteps' of his father, the son was sentenced to death for 'the brown fairy'

Father sentenced to death, son still addicted to drugs

Quang Van Toan was born into a family whose father was in and out of prison. In 2004, Quang Van A., Toan's father, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking". After serving his prison sentence for a while, A. reoffended. At the end of December 2017, Quang Van A. was arrested by authorities while illegally transporting nearly 10kg of various drugs from Ky Son district to Vinh city to receive 30 million VND in wages. Notably, Quang Van Toan also sat in his father's car while transporting the drugs by car. Determined not to be related to the case, Toan did not get into trouble with the law, but his father was sentenced to death by the court.

Since his father was arrested and sentenced to death, Toan has occasionally visited his father in prison. During those visits, Toan has been repeatedly told by his father to learn from his father's life and not make the same mistakes as his father. More than anyone, Toan is the one who understands the severity of the law when it comes to drugs. However, the son still falls into the wrong path.

According to the case file, while working for hire in Laos, Toan met a man named Ba (unknown background and address). In early November 2022, when Toan returned to Vietnam, he received a phone call from Ba asking him to transport drugs, promising to be paid 10 million VND after completing the job. Toan agreed to the above offer.

On the evening of December 1, 2022, Ba called and instructed Toan to go to the milestone marked by a tree branch on National Highway 7, in Chieu Luu Commune, Ky Son District to get drugs. Toan followed the instructions of the Laotian and got 8 heroin bars and hid them in the fence near his house. At 2:00 a.m. on December 5, also following Ba's instructions, Quang Van Toan took 4 heroin bars to deliver to a woman waiting near the defendant's house. While Toan was holding the drugs to find a customer, he was caught red-handed by the police.

During his arrest, Toan confessed to the amount of drugs he was hiding in his house, so the police seized the remaining heroin cakes. The investigation agency determined that Quang Van Toan must bear criminal responsibility for transporting nearly 2.8 kg of drugs.

Appropriate sentence

On June 19, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened the first instance trial of Quang Van Toan (25 years old), residing in Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of "Illegal transportation of drugs".

The intense heat and the strong Lao winds made the atmosphere in the courtroom even hotter. Taking advantage of the time when the court had not yet opened, Toan's wife, Moong Thi H., led her two small children, one 3 years old and one 5 years old, inside to see their father more easily. But the two young children did not understand what was going on so they played around carelessly. After the little boy was tired of playing, he fell asleep in his mother's arms even as Toan was calling his name from above.

At the trial, Quang Van Toan admitted that because he was greedy for 10 million VND, he agreed to transport drugs for hire even though he knew that his actions were against the law. Faced with the death penalty proposal from the representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province, the defendant presented his poor family situation, being an ethnic minority with two young children, asking the court for a chance to live.

Next, the defendant turned to apologize to his family, especially his wife and children. Facing his wife and children, the defendant admitted that he had not fulfilled his duties as a husband and father in the family. Because before that, Toan had been in trouble with the law once for gambling. His unstable job and his involvement in gambling made his economy increasingly decline.

The defendant said he had worked in Laos as a laborer, then in a brick kiln. His monthly salary was nearly ten million dong, and if he knew how to save, he could take care of his wife and children. But then, because of gambling, Toan "burned" all his money on gambling. In desperation, the defendant accepted the risk.

Considering that the defendant's criminal acts are dangerous to society, violate the State's monopoly policy on drug management, cause disorder in the area, increase the number of drug addicts, affect people's lives and health; the defendant's criminal acts are also the underlying cause of social evils, giving rise to other types of crimes, therefore, the court sentenced Quang Van Toan to death for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking”.

Family tragedy

Speaking of Toan's wife, since her husband was arrested, in order to have enough money to take care of the children, the defendant's wife had to send the children to relatives to work for hire. Lacking the love and care of their parents, the two children were quite thin.

A relative who attended the court sobbed because of pity for the children. He choked up: “Dad is in prison, mom had to leave her two children with me to raise because of her circumstances so she could go to work. The two brothers were still young so they thought I was their mother. Poor them…”

Because the father worked away from home and was temporarily detained, the two children's feelings for their father were quite weak. Therefore, when the court entered the courtroom, with the permission of the court security force, the two children appeared quite indifferent to their father while the mother burst into tears. Although everyone instructed them to call him "Dad", the two children appeared quite shy. As soon as he looked at his son, Toan continuously wiped away his tears. The defendant choked up and told his son to "stay at home and listen to his mother". Only when the court was about to enter the courtroom did the eldest child boldly call out "Dad". Toan covered his face with his hands and cried, tears of regret and pain, though it was too late.

Before the court announced the verdict, Toan choked up as he told his wife to take care of their children. “Tell them not to be like their father,” Toan told his young wife. Hearing her husband’s words, Ms. H. cried helplessly.

Receiving the highest sentence, Toan quickly turned around to look at the mother and her three children. Below, the young wife was holding her baby in one arm and her eldest child in the other, running after him in tears…

The courtroom was sunny and the image of a young woman holding her child and crying made many people feel sorry. If Toan had known how to take his father’s example as an expensive lesson for himself, this situation would not have happened, but it was too late.

Because of drugs, Quang Van Toan was sentenced to death, his wife lost her husband, his children lost their father, and he lost the breadwinner who should have been the support of the whole family. From the tragedy of a family, hopefully it will be a lesson for those who are deliberately breaking the law, trading in white death, sooner or later will have to pay a heavy price.