From victim to child trafficker.

On August 25th, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a criminal trial to hear the case against defendant Quang Thi Xu (born in 1993), residing in Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong district, for the crime of "Trafficking in children".

Quang Thi Xu was once tricked by a woman named Thuyen into being sold to China to marry and have children. In early February 2012, Xu and Thuyen returned to Vietnam to find women to sell to China. Thuyen told Xu that she would be paid if she found people.

About three days later, a woman came to see Thuyen. She said that Mr. Cut Van Dam - the stepfather of Lo Thi D. (born in 1998) - had agreed to let D. go to China to get married.

Defendant Quang Thi Xu was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

Thuyen discussed with Xu the plan to sell D. to China; he also promised Xu 10,000 yuan (equivalent to 30 million VND) after the sale of D.

After reaching an agreement, Thuyen gave Xu 4 million dong to give to Dam and paid Xu 1.5 million dong in advance as payment for her services. Xu then gave the 4 million dong to Dam to bring D. to her house. At her house, Xu told D. to go to China to get married or work. Hearing this, D. refused.

Xu called Thuyen to tell him that D. refused to go. Thuyen told Xu, "We have to force her to go because her stepfather has already taken the money." Hearing Xu say that her stepfather had already taken the money, D. fell silent and agreed to go to China.

Later, Thuyen sold D. to a Chinese man to be his wife. As for Xu, he later contacted Thuyen to collect his payment but was cut off from contact.

After being trafficked abroad for seven years, D. escaped and returned to Vietnam in 2019. Subsequently, the victim filed a complaint with the police.

At the trial, Xu admitted to his crime. The defendant acknowledged being a victim of human trafficking himself, knowing that trafficking people to China was illegal, but he still did it out of greed. At the time D. was trafficked, she was just over 14 years old.

After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel of judges sentenced the defendant Quang Thi Xu to 10 years in prison for the crime of trafficking in children.

Regarding D.'s stepfather, the investigation determined that he only knew D. was working in Quang Ninh based on the words of an unidentified woman. Before taking D. to work, Mr. Dam asked his wife and child for their consent, so he took D. There was no basis for criminal prosecution because he was unaware that Xu and Thuyen were taking the child to China to sell her.

As for Thuyen, since he is not present in the area, the investigating agency will verify his identity and handle the matter later.

Tran Vu