The wife of the commune secretary who killed a man to avoid paying off a debt escaped the death penalty thanks to the new law.
Receiving the highest sentence for the murder of a creditor couple, Ms. Huong has just escaped the death penalty thanks to the application of a new law for "attempted crime".
On January 17, Chief Justice of the People's Court of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Nguyen Van Hien said he had just received a document from the Supreme People's Court, deciding to reduce the sentence from death to 20 years for Ms. Le Thi Huong (42 years old - wife of the former secretary of Kim Long commune, Chau Duc district) for the crime of murder.
According to Mr. Hien, after the Supreme People's Court of Appeal in Ho Chi Minh City upheld her death sentence, Ms. Huong sent a letter asking for clemency to the President. While the petition was pending review, the People's Court of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province reviewed the file and discovered that Ms. Huong's sentence was reduced according to the provisions of the new Penal Code, so it sent a document asking for the Supreme Court's opinion.
The Supreme People's Court determined that Ms. Huong's death sentence for murder was well-founded and in accordance with the law. However, pursuant to Clause 3, Article 57 of the 2015 Penal Code (effective July 1, 2015), it is stipulated that: "In the case of an attempted crime, if the applicable law stipulates the highest penalty of life imprisonment or death penalty, the penalty of imprisonment of no more than 20 years shall be applied...". Although the National Assembly has postponed the implementation of the law, the provisions favorable to the offender are still applied.
"This afternoon we will go to the prison to deliver this decision to Ms. Huong," said Mr. Hien.
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Ms. Huong in court. Photo: NQ |
According to the case, Huong borrowed 80 million VND from Mrs. Nga and her husband for a long time, and also owed another 20 million VND and 60 million VND in hui money. The creditors asked for it many times but the commune secretary's wife did not pay.
On January 15, 2013, Ms. Huong called Ms. Nga and her husband to urge them to come to their house to settle the debt so that she could find an opportunity to kill them. That afternoon, while calculating the debt, Ms. Huong asked Ms. Nga (who was sick) to go to bed and rest, waiting for her husband to come home to settle the money. Ms. Huong also told Mr. Hung (Ms. Nga's husband) to go to the garden to cut bananas and get eggs to nourish his wife.
While Mr. Hung was busy picking up eggs, Huong came from behind and slashed him many times on the head and hands with a machete. Mrs. Nga ran out to save her husband and was also slashed three times. People who discovered the incident quickly took the victims to the emergency room. Mrs. Huong was taken to the police station by her husband to surrender a day later.
Luckily, Mrs. Nga and her husband were injured from 26-80% due to 17 slashes. In March 2014, the People's Court of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province sentenced Mrs. Huong to death with the aggravating circumstance of "gangsterism" and brutality. The Supreme People's Court of Appeal in Ho Chi Minh City later upheld the sentence.
In addition, Ms. Huong was sentenced to 5 years in prison for the crime of Desecration of a corpse. In May 2012, the female treasurer of Kim Long commune, Ms. Duong Thi Thuy Binh Ha (54 years old), came to Huong's house. Because the tap water was cut off, Huong asked Ms. Ha to turn on the circuit breaker to pump water from the well.
After waiting for a long time without seeing the pump working, Huong went out to check and discovered that Mrs. Ha had been electrocuted to death. Huong then burned her body and buried the ashes at the tree roots around the house./.
According to VNE