Life sentence for the killer of his wife's nephew

(Baonghean.vn) - On May 28, the Supreme People's Court opened a criminal appeal trial of defendant Le Van Huong (50 years old, residing in Quynh Loc commune, Hoang Mai town, Nghe An) for the crime of "Murder".

The victim of the case is Mr. Nguyen Van Nam (born in 1994), son of Mr. Nguyen Dai Duong (50 years old, living in the same hamlet). Mr. Duong and defendant Huong are siblings (Mr. Duong married the older sister, defendant Huong married the younger sister).

According to the indictment, at around 8:00 p.m. on August 28, 2013, after returning home drunk, Huong suddenly remembered what happened that morning when she went to the house of Mr. Nguyen Dai Duong (50 years old, living in the same neighborhood) - a relative of Huong's - to ask for a truckload of soil to pour into the foundation of the house but was not given. Feeling angry and drunk, Huong went to the relative's house to talk.

Defendant Huong in court

Huong took the knife and stood close to the wall of her house, cursing and provoking Mr. Duong, while threatening to kill him. Hearing Huong's cursing, Mr. Duong opened the window and told Huong to "go home, we'll talk tomorrow". Huong hid the knife near the fence and went home.

However, after returning home, Huong felt angry again, so she took a knife and went to Mr. Duong's house again. At this time, she saw Mr. Duong and his son, Nguyen Van Nam (born in 1994), standing in the chicken coop. Huong rushed in with a knife and slashed Mr. Duong's hands and back, causing him to fall down.

Seeing his father being slashed, Nam ran to stop him, but Huong turned around and stabbed him repeatedly in the chest, causing the victim to collapse on the spot. Although he was rushed to the hospital in time, Nam died from the stab wound that severed his lung. Huong returned home and slept as if nothing had happened.

At the first instance trial on January 21, the Nghe An People’s Court sentenced Huong to life in prison. In addition, the defendant must compensate the victim 99 million VND for mental damage and funeral expenses.

At the appeal hearing, Mr. Nguyen Dai Duong argued that the verdict was unsatisfactory, so he requested the panel of judges to sentence Le Van Huong to death because Huong's actions were hooliganism, disregard for the law and the lives of others.

Considering that after the incident, the defendant’s family paid 99 million VND in compensation to remedy the consequences, and the victim also realized his mistake, the Supreme People’s Court decided to reject the appeal and upheld the life sentence for Huong.

Duc Chung