Extramarital affairs are often described as poisonous smoke. However, according to those involved in the two stories below, their actions were like "fire near straw," impulsive and reckless...

Love in the wrong place

The woman's name is Nguyen Thi Chien, 52 years old, residing in Ung Hoa district, Hanoi. She is married and has two children.

While her husband and children were working in Ho Chi Minh City, the defendant stayed at home and had a romantic relationship with Mr. D.HT, a 63-year-old man from the same village. Later, a conflict arose between them because Chien suspected Mr. T. of infidelity.

On the morning of July 24, 2015, Chien called Mr. T. to invite him out, but he declined. Chien continued to call several times, but Mr. T. did not answer. Chien thought that Mr. T. had gone out with someone else and abandoned her, and from then on, she intended to harm Mr. T.

Chiên took two packets of rat poison and one packet of snail poison that he had at home, put them in his bag, and rode his bicycle to Mr. T.'s house. Knowing that Mr. T. was away, Chiên poured the rat poison into the chicken feed container and the other packet into the household water tank.

As a result, all 16 of Mr. T.'s chickens died, and his son, after drinking water from the tank to boil and make tea, suffered food poisoning and had to be rushed to the hospital.

After the incident, Chien asked a friend to call and arrange a meeting with Mr. T., confessing to his actions and asking for his forgiveness. In response, Mr. T. secretly recorded the conversation and reported it to the authorities.

Illustration by: Nguyen Ngoc Thuan.

Throughout the trial, the defendant cried continuously, causing her testimony to be interrupted: "I have a husband but I still had feelings for Mr. T. I was wrong, I only intended to scare him..."

Mr. T. refuted the defendant's statement, saying, "Her claim of having a relationship with me since 2006 is incorrect. I only met her in 2009. By 2012, we intended to end the relationship because my wife and children found out and tried to stop us, but she disagreed. She even said that if I ended the relationship, she would tell my family..."

Regarding the dead chickens and the medical expenses for his son's hospitalization, Mr. T. demanded full compensation from the defendant. After presenting his case, Mr. T. unexpectedly requested additional compensation for the water tank.

The prosecutor asked, "Look at the defendant's current situation and think carefully about whether you want to request compensation for the water tank. The defendant is in prison, and her husband and children are working far away..." After thinking for a while, Mr. T. said, "It's up to the court to decide."

During the investigation, the defendant Chien confessed that when she put the snail poison into the water tank, she thought that if Mr. T. died, she would die too. Her love for a man who didn't belong to her had blinded her, causing her to forget all sense of right and wrong.

Perhaps only when she appeared in court and heard the cold testimony of her lover did the defendant understand how her love was reciprocated.

The expert's conclusion stated that there was no evidence to confirm that the snail poison caused the deaths. This detail was presented by the lawyer to exonerate the defendant, but it was not accepted by the court. The defendant Chien was sentenced to 12 years in prison for two crimes: murder and destruction of property.

As he was being led past Mr. and Mrs. T., the defendant clasped his hands, bowed his head, and said, "Please forgive me." Mrs. T. said nothing, while Mr. T. coldly turned away...

"A moment of madness"

Although it was also an extramarital affair, the woman in the story below was not as fortunate as Mrs. Chien and Mr. T, and had to pay the price with her own life.

Ms. Pham Thi Hai, 36 years old, is married with two children. Since 2013, an illicit relationship has developed between her and Doan Quoc Hoang, 51 years old, despite their relationship as sisters-in-law (Ms. Hai's husband is the younger brother of Hoang's wife).

They lived next to each other in a building on Tran Quy Kien Street, Dich Vong Ward, Cau Giay District. Their relationship was discovered and opposed by Hai's husband. Both families invited Hoang and Hai to talk, but neither admitted to having an affair.

Meanwhile, Hoang continued to contact and meet with Hai regularly by phone. In mid-2015, wanting to sever ties with Hoang, Hai proactively changed her phone number and moved with her family to a house in Ba Dinh district.

One time, Hoang met Hai and pressed her for an explanation. He then invited her to a motel, but she refused.

On the afternoon of August 29, 2015, Hoang searched for Hai several times but could not find her. That evening, when Hai returned home to Cau Giay district, Hai followed her into the house, locked the door, and then used two knives to stab her 14 times, causing her death on the spot.

The defendant calmly and clearly confessed to both the illicit relationship and the criminal act before the court. He stated that his wife had been suffering from physical weakness for over 10 years.

"Since Ms. Hai rejected him, why did the defendant still pursue her? Was it to entice her into having sex?" The defendant replied, "At our age, that's no longer important."

The defendant then further explained: "It wasn't love, we were just like fire near straw. She reciprocated my feelings normally, but there was a time when I texted her and her husband found out, so he got jealous. She denied it and showed her displeasure by cursing at me in front of her husband, which made me even more angry."

For his actions, the defendant was sentenced to death. A relationship that was neither love nor physical, but merely "fire near straw," as the defendant explained in his final statement, had to be paid for with the lives of two people.

According to TTO