Increased sentence, death penalty for man who killed his sister-in-law because he couldn't get her phone number

(Baonghean.vn)- On January 11, 2016, at the headquarters of the Provincial People's Court, the High-level People's Court in Hanoi held an appeal trial of the murder case against Phan Van Tuan (born in 1978), residing in Hoa Son commune, Anh Son district, following the appeal of the victim's family.

Phan Van Tuan at court.

According to the first instance verdict dated May 29, 2015, Tuan's criminal behavior was shown as follows: because the couple often had conflicts, Tuan beat his wife and kicked her out of the house. Tuan's wife went to the South to do business, and Tuan went to Laos. At the end of 2014, Tuan returned to Vietnam and went to his wife's parents to ask for his wife's address and phone number, but no one knew. On January 3, 2015, Tuan passed by the house of Ms. Dang Thi Van (born in 1982, Tuan's wife's sister). Tuan asked Ms. Van for his wife's phone number, but Ms. Van said she didn't have it. Tuan caused trouble, rushed in and choked Ms. Van. Neighbors intervened, so Tuan left.

A moment later, Tuan hid a knife on his person and went to his sister-in-law's house. At that time, Ms. Van was holding her TL (6 months old) in her arms and standing in front of the door. Tuan "accused" his wife of working as a "prostitute" but Ms. Van replied that she did not know. The two sides argued, Tuan pulled out a knife and threatened to slash Ms. Van, causing her to panic and run away with her child. Tuan caught up and slashed her many times, causing Ms. Van to fall onto the street. Neighbors intervened but Tuan struggled and continued to slash Ms. Van many times and slashed TL in the face. After committing the crime, Tuan left. Although she was taken to the emergency room, Ms. Van died shortly after due to multiple injuries, a fractured skull, and a ruptured brain tissue. TL was taken for treatment and was diagnosed with 15% health damage.

With the above actions, Tuan was sentenced by the first instance court to life in prison for murder and 3 years in prison for intentional injury. In total, Tuan must serve a life sentence. In addition, Tuan must compensate the victim more than 120 million VND and provide monthly child support for Ms. Van's children of 600,000 VND until they reach adulthood.

After the first instance verdict, the victim's family found that Tuan's sentence was light and not commensurate with the crime he had committed, so they appealed to the High People's Court. At the appeal hearing, it was found that Tuan's crime was particularly dangerous, of a hooligan nature, and had the intention to commit the crime to the end, so it was no longer worth reforming. Therefore, the appellate panel accepted the victim's appeal, revised the first instance verdict, and sentenced Tuan to death for murder./.

Khang Hoa