A moment of belated repentance.

(Baonghean) - Before the judge, the thin, gaunt defendant Hung stood with his head bowed beside a short, stocky, fair-skinned woman, answering the questions posed by the jury. Outside, his eldest daughter continued to laugh and chat happily with her mother and younger sibling. She seemed unconcerned about the scene unfolding inside the courtroom…

Luong Xuan Hung (born in 1981, residing in Viet Huong village, Chau Hoi commune, Quy Chau district) is known as a kind and caring family man. Due to difficult family circumstances, Hung had to leave home early, following other young men from his village to work on construction projects in the South. During this time, Hung met and fell in love with Ms. Pham Thi T. (from Nam Dinh province). Ms. T. agreed to go back to Hung's hometown, and they became husband and wife. Every day, besides tending to their sugarcane fields, to earn money for living expenses, Hung and his wife had to leave their children with their grandparents while they went to work. Hung was also known as a good husband, always loving and caring for his wife and children. Despite their difficult family life, the villagers never once heard Hung and his wife argue. They both praised and envied the peaceful and happy life Hung enjoyed.

Defendant Luong Xuan Hung.

With a beautiful wife and obedient children, no one could have imagined that he would deceive and betray his family by having an extramarital affair with another woman. Hung kept that relationship a secret for many years, and it was only when he fell into legal trouble that the affair was exposed.

Vi Thi Nga (born in 1986, residing in Chau Hanh commune, Quy Chau district) - Hung's young mistress - was poorly educated. After a long period of wandering between the North and South working odd jobs, realizing she couldn't stay in the city for long due to the meager wages, and with a small amount of savings, Nga returned to her hometown and rented a small kiosk selling groceries and soft drinks in Quy Chau town. During his visits to town, Hung stopped by Nga's shop for drinks. He quickly fell for the shop owner's charm and gentle nature. This passionate new relationship made Hung forget that he already had his own family back home.

A few months before her arrest, Nga met a woman named Hong from Lang Son province. During their visits to a cafe, Hong introduced herself as a miner in Quy Chau district. After only a few conversations, Hong invited Nga to join a drug trafficking ring. She offered Nga 40 million dong per trip if she successfully transported drugs from Que Phong district to Hanoi. Although Nga was unfamiliar with the law, she had repeatedly refused after witnessing many people in her village being arrested and imprisoned for drug trafficking. However, thinking about the huge reward, Nga agreed. Fearing she would face difficulties alone, Nga confided her plan to "change her life" to her lover, Hung. Hung enthusiastically supported Nga's drug trafficking scheme.

On December 6, 2013, following a plan devised by a woman named Hong, Nga and Hung rode their motorbike to Huoi Xai village (Que Phong district). Upon arrival, they met a Hmong man. After receiving a package of money from Nga, the man handed Nga two blocks of heroin and 40 million dong. Having received the goods and payment, Hung and Nga quickly returned on their motorbike.

In the early morning of December 7, 2013, while passing through the Pà Lài area (Châu Tiến commune, Quỳ Châu district), both were arrested by the anti-drug crime force of the Nghệ An Border Guard. During the search, authorities seized 628.1 grams of heroin.

On the afternoon of April 22, 2014, the first-instance trial of the criminal case against defendants Vi Thi Nga and Luong Xuan Hung for the crime of "illegally buying, selling, and transporting narcotics" was held. While Hung showed remorse and sincerely confessed the truth, Nga persistently tried to justify her actions in order to refute the judges' accusations. She claimed that she had never seen narcotics and did not know what narcotics were.

Before the court, Nga and Hung stood there as accomplices in the illegal trafficking and transportation of narcotics. But during the trial, their extramarital relationship was also exposed.

Sitting in the last row of seats in the courtroom, Ms. T. hugged her child and sobbed uncontrollably as she faced the cruel irony of the situation. Bitter, painful tears streamed down her face. Occasionally, spectators could hear her choked sobs mingling with the lullabies her child was humming in the hallway outside. Present at the trial, she bore two great sorrows alone. The pain of witnessing her husband being tempted by ill-gotten gains and falling into legal trouble. Even more heartbreaking, at this very trial, her ears buzzed as she heard a devastating truth: the woman standing in the dock with her husband was not only an accomplice in the case but also his lover. The truth was so cruel that she couldn't believe what she had heard: "It's so painful, sister. For so many years we lived together, he always loved and cared for his wife and children. I can't believe he would betray his wife and children like this."

When her husband was arrested, she was pregnant with their second child. On the day of delivery, she went through the painful and humiliating labor alone. Then, she single-handedly shouldered all the responsibilities of caring for her two children. Although angry at her husband for not resisting the temptation of money, she still hoped he would reform well so he could quickly return to his wife and children and start over.

During the recess, Hung cried like a child. Occasionally, he would raise his handcuffed hands to quickly wipe away his tears. He tried to scan his reddened eyes, searching for his two children, as if to satisfy his longing. As if sensing her husband's wish, Mrs. T called their two daughters, who were playing innocently in the courthouse hallway, to see their father. Hearing the call, the little girl happily took her mother's hand and found a chair closest to Hung so that father and daughters could meet. Nearly half a year had passed since their separation, and today, Hung's family was finally reunited. Hung's two children, the older one four years old and the younger one only four months old, were too young to understand why they were there, why their parents were crying, too young to comprehend the pain they were enduring.

An 18-year prison sentence is the price Luong Xuan Hung has to pay for his blindness and weakness in the face of temptation. Standing beside Hung, his young mistress, Vi Thi Nga, seemed to collapse as she received a 20-year sentence for illegally transporting and selling drugs. As the trial ended, the image of Ms. T struggling to carry her 4-month-old child through the crowd so that Hung and their child could see each other moved everyone present to tears. Putting aside her pain, she pleaded with her husband, "Remember to reform yourself well so you can come home to me and our child soon." In response, Hung looked up at his wife with teary eyes, begging for forgiveness.

Text and photos:Doan Thi Hoang