Tears of a woman with 22 years of guilt for poisoning her two children
The defense lawyer's words made Sau sob as the 22-year-old crime was rekindled.
Last week, Tran Thi Sau (49 years old, from Chuong My district) was brought to trial for murder before the Hanoi People's Court. The victims in the case were Sau's two children, aged five and six months. Sau's ex-husband's family was present in full force at the court. They were silent, without shouting or scolding the defendant.
The Trial Council's interrogation of Sau "reconstructed" the crimes the woman committed 22 years ago against her own young children. Sau calmly confessed but did not dare to look back at her relatives, even though they "mercifully forgave her".
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Tran Thi Sau at the first instance trial. |
Like many other village girls, more than 20 years ago, Sau married a man from the same district and had two daughters. Her life was in a deadlock because her husband drank, was lazy, and did not care about his wife and children, causing Sau to have suicidal thoughts and thought of dying with her two daughters.
Sau mixed poison into a bottle of orange juice and drank it with her children. People discovered her and took all three to the emergency room, but the two children died, only Sau survived. Feeling guilty, this woman fled her hometown and went to the South to live anonymously under another name.
After nearly an hour of interrogation, Sau confessed little by little, admitting to his actions against his children. The defendant's "cold" face made a juror exclaim: "I see that the defendant has not shown any remorse."
Sau bowed his head in silence. However, all the pent-up emotions of the defendant "exploded" when Mr. Nguyen Anh Thom, the defense lawyer, presented the cause and circumstances of the crime.
Mr. Thom said that when he met his client in detention, he heard her share about the pressure Sau felt when she gave birth to two daughters. "The defendant suffered indifference and abandonment from her husband when she only gave birth to daughters," the lawyer said.
According to the lawyer, after escaping, the defendant lived without a marriage certificate with a man in a foreign land and had two sons. During that time, the defendant felt guilty and was always tormented by the sins he had committed against his two "own children".
"The defendant showed signs of postpartum stress, which led to her depression," said Mr. Thom.The lawyer hopes and requests the court to consider giving his client a chance, reducing the sentence so that he can soon return to his two sons.
Hearing the lawyer's words, Sau burst into tears. The jury had to advise the defendant to stay calm. Considering the circumstances, the court sentenced Sau to life in prison.