The ill-fated love affair of a single driver with a married female teacher

During the trial held at the Ha Tinh People's Court in late November, Tran Phuc Duc (43 years old) continuously expressed regret, admitting that because he was too infatuated, he used homemade mines, causing many people to be implicated. Below the hall, many people sighed, regretting Duc for being so old and still not settled down, just because of a moment of thoughtlessness, he committed a serious crime.

Looking humble and worried, Duc said he was single and worked as a truck driver. Five years ago, he dated his high school classmate named Oanh (45 years old), a teacher, married with two children. "Because of love, the defendant promised to give up everything to live with Ms. Oanh for the rest of his life," Duc said.

In early February, the two had a conflict, their relationship was broken. Many times they called but couldn't get through, and they avoided each other on dates. Duc became jealous and wanted to meet her to question her. He thought that if they continued to be rejected, they would die together.

"The defendant used 0.4 kg of explosives stolen from a quarry, put them in two beer cans, and made two mines. At around 1:00 p.m. on February 15, knowing that his lover would return to Thach Ha district, the defendant stopped her car. The defendant pushed Oanh to the passenger seat, removed the license plate, put it in the trunk, and drove away," Duc explained.

On the way, Duc kept trying to persuade her, but Oanh still refused to rekindle their relationship. Duc angrily used tape and a scarf to tie her hands and drove her for more than a day in a car, through many districts in Ha Tinh.

On the evening of December 16, 2017, Duc went to a gas station in Thach Ha district, borrowed a phone from a store employee to call his sister, saying that he would kill Oanh and "ask everyone to take care of mom". He then drove his lover to some of her relatives' houses in Ha Tinh.

Early the next morning, when he arrived at Mr. Mai Van Binh's house (Ms. Oanh's brother), Duc tried to persuade her one last time but she did not change her mind. Duc said "if that's the case, let's die together" and grabbed two mines. Ms. Oanh struggled, grabbed them, threw them through the ventilation window and then ran away. Duc picked up the mines, drove his car to Ms. Oanh's house to look for them.

When he arrived, he saw Mr. Le Thanh Dung (Ms. Oanh's husband's brother) inside. Not knowing his face, Duc mistakenly thought that this person had a relationship with Ms. Oanh. He got jealous and threw a fuse bomb at Mr. Dung, causing 47% damage to his health.

Knowing that Ms. Oanh's two children were sleeping on the second floor, Duc poured 10 liters of gasoline on the door of the room and set it on fire. The two children ran into the bathroom and locked the door, but were rescued by local residents and authorities in time.

Duc drove away from the scene, intending to burn the car to commit suicide. When he went to buy gasoline in Thach Ha district, employee Ho Van Thanh saw that he was acting strangely and refused to sell it to him. Duc angrily beat him, grabbed the gas pump and smashed the electronic control unit of the gas pump. On the way home, he drove the car into the porch of his neighbor's house and passed out.

The judge asked: Why, when you once had feelings for each other, did you plan to take someone else's life so cruelly? Duc replied that he initially held the mine to scare Ms. Oanh, not to harm her. When he was rejected many times, he "lost control".

Present in court, Ms. Oanh was reserved in her words, saying that the incident had already happened, and she only hoped that the court would judge the right person and the right crime. She also did not ask the defendant to pay compensation, leaving everything to the prosecution to decide.

Having the last word, Duc sobbed and said that sometimes he felt very sad, thinking that at his age, his friends were already settled down with families and children, while he himself was busy chasing after his high school love, and when he looked back, he was left with nothing. Duc hoped the jury would reduce his sentence so he could return to start his life over soon.

The jury determined that Duc's actions were intended to take another person's life, and that the victim did not die was unintentional.

The court sentenced him to 15 years and 6 months in prison for the crimes.Murder, Illegal arrest and detention, Intentional damage to property, Illegal possession and use of explosivesDuc is the first defendant in Ha Tinh to be prosecuted for so many crimes at the same time.

Duc Hung