Behind the cruel knife

Swinging the knife by "inertia"

Due to financial difficulties in his family, and because he was the support for his wife and children, Nguyen Hai Phi (born in 1995), residing in Nam Thuong commune, Nam Dan district, had to apply for a job as a factory worker in Nam Cam Industrial Park (Nghi Xa commune, Nghi Loc).

At about 9:30 p.m. on March 28, 2017, while preparing to go to bed, Nguyen Hai Phi heard Le Anh T. (born 1998) and Nguyen Ngoc H. (born 1995), both residing in Nam Linh commune, Nam Dan district, making noise on the first floor of the boarding house...

Annoyed by his noisy neighbor, Nguyen Hai Phi immediately went downstairs to warn him. Before going downstairs, Phi did not forget to take a fruit knife upstairs for self-defense.

When they got there, Phi and H. got into an argument. Unable to control himself, Phi took a knife and stabbed T. repeatedly, causing T. to collapse on the floor.

Seeing his friend being stabbed, H. came to stop him, but was also stabbed 3 times in the head, neck, and face by Nguyen Hai Phi.

Immediately after the incident, many people ran out to stop the incident and took the victim to the emergency room. However, due to the severity of his injuries, T. died on the spot, while Nguyen Ngoc H. suffered a disability of up to 14%.

After committing the crime, Nguyen Hai Phi drove back to his hometown. Encouraged and advised by many friends and relatives, in the early morning of March 29, Phi went to the local police station to confess his actions.

At the police investigation agency, Phi confessed that because he was so angry about the noise that T. and H. had caused, he wanted to go down to teach the neighbors a lesson, and that he acted out of "inertia".

Tears of women

Victim Le Anh T. passed away when he was just 18 years old. He was the youngest son in the family. His father died early, leaving his mother to raise T and his brother alone.

Feeling sorry for his mother's hardship, who had cancer and no money to buy medicine, after graduating from high school, T. went to work as a worker in Nam Cam industrial park.

The trial of Nguyen Hai Phi was held by the People's Court of Nghe An province in mid-September 2017. Nguyen Hai Phi was prosecuted for murder.

Although still present at the trial, Ms. Huong, mother of the victim Le Anh T., had to authorize her brother to participate in the proceedings as the victim's legal representative. The lung cancer and the pain of losing her son made her haggard, weak, and older than her age. She sat quietly in one place, tears rolling down her miserable face.

When asked by the Trial Council about the reason for committing the crime and justifying his murder in court, Phi said that Mr. T. and Mr. H. rode their motorbikes into the boarding house, causing noise and disturbing others' rest, so he wanted to come down and remind them. As for the fact that he pulled out a knife and stabbed the victims, it was "out of inertia".

Arguing at the trial, the representative of the Procuracy said that Phi did not confess honestly, his testimony at the investigation agency and at the trial were not the same.

The judge also affirmed that Phi's actions were of a hooligan nature when he repeatedly stabbed Mr. T. and Mr. H. Fortunately, someone intervened in time, otherwise Mr. H. would not have survived. The fact that Mr. H. did not die was beyond the defendant's wishes.

Sitting in the row below the victim’s mother were two women in a state of confusion. One was the defendant’s mother, the other was the defendant’s young wife. But in response to the mother’s and wife’s worries and pain, was Phi’s cold, emotionless face. The defendant Phi’s coldness throughout that morning made the women even more heartbroken.

Sitting a row away from Phi, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Tuyet (Phi's mother) and her daughter-in-law held their sleeping baby son to talk to Phi. The conversation was interrupted many times because of the tears of the two women, but Mrs. Tuyet kept telling her son: "What's done is done, no matter what, you are guilty of murder, turn around and apologize to them...".

However, Phi remained indifferent and said nothing.

Phi’s wife, who was only in her early 20s, could only sit and watch her husband, unable to say a word. During the trial, the young wife lingered outside the courtroom, looking for a cool place for her son to sleep. Only when the court deliberated did she go in to see her husband.

It is known that on the day her husband caused the incident, she and her husband's family ran around trying to compensate the victim's family 120 million VND. On the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, Phi's family went to burn incense to apologize to the deceased.

The panel of judges determined that Nguyen Hai Phi's actions were of a hooligan nature, of a particularly serious nature, as he unjustly took the life of another person, committed crimes against many people, and endangered society... Considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel of judges sentenced Nguyen Hai Phi to 20 years in prison for "Murder".

Regarding civil liability, the court ordered defendant Nguyen Hai Phi to compensate Le Anh Tu's family 170 million VND (minus 120 million VND already compensated, remaining 50 million VND); compensate Nguyen Ngoc Huy nearly 18.7 million VND (minus 10 million VND previously compensated, remaining nearly 9 million VND).

The trial ended after noon, T.’s mother still sat motionless on the bench. When the crowd had dispersed, she was helped up by her relatives and walked unsteadily out of the courtroom. Phi’s mother and wife burst into tears, watching the prisoner transport van until it disappeared.

Every crime must be paid for, but the pain of a mother and a wife never knows when it will subside...