The pain of a mother whose son is a drug dealer at the age of 16

Mother "appears in court" with her child

At the end of April 2021, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of Vi Van Quyet (born 2005), residing in Kim Son town, Que Phong district (Nghe An). Quyet was tried by Nghe An Provincial People's Procuracy for "Illegal drug trafficking" along with 2 others. At the time of the crime, Vi Van Quyet was just over 16 years old. Ms. Le Thi Van (born 1969), residing in Kim Son town, Que Phong district (Nghe An) attended the trial as the legal representative of the defendant Vi Van Quyet.

Vi Van Chung, Lu Van Thon and Vi Van Quyet at the trial (from left to right). Photo: HSVA

According to the rules for juvenile trials, she was allowed to sit near her son. However, for most of the session, mother and son did not speak to each other. In fact, the generation gap, combined with the stubbornness of adolescence, made Quyet rarely share or confide anything with his mother.

She sat motionless, only when the court called did she stand up in a panic, before she could say anything tears welled up. "I knew my grandchild used drugs but I never expected him to dare to sell drugs. When the police came to the house and told me to prepare clothes to send to my grandchild, I was so shocked that I fainted on the spot. I am a widow, raising 5 children alone...", she choked up.

Quyet dropped out of school after 8th grade. He lost his way and followed the brown fairy without realizing it. Because of his dependence on the "brown fairy", Quyet was targeted by many people in the area to transport goods.

This young man immediately caught the eye of Lu Van Thon (born in 1986), who lives in the same locality. According to the investigation, Lu Van Thon is a notorious person. He has been imprisoned many times for the crimes of "Theft of property", "Escape from detention" and "Illegal drug trafficking". In mid-2019, Thon was released from prison. After being released from prison without a stable job, Thon joined thedrug traffickingin the area. Each time there was a transaction, Thon rarely appeared but used a substitute. This time, Thon lured local teenagers to join the drug ring.

Accordingly, during a trip to Hanoi, Thon met two men he did not know in the Hoan Kiem Lake area. These two men ordered 1 kg of crystal meth and 50 packets of pink meth for 400 million VND. Thon agreed and went back to find a buyer.

Returning home, Lu Van Thon called a Mong man to order 50 packages of pink drugs and 1 kg of crystal meth for 100 million VND.

On October 15, 2020, Thon called Vi Van Chung to ask for money and invited Vi Van Quyet to go get drugs. At around 1:30 p.m., Chung and Quyet went to Tri Le commune, Que Phong district to get drugs and then brought them home to hide.

That same evening, Chung called Quyet to pick up the drugs to take to Hanoi for Thon. Chung drove Quyet to catch a bus to Hanoi. While Quyet was sitting in the bus, he was checked by the police and arrested along with the evidence. Based on Quyet's statement, the police arrested his two accomplices, Vi Van Chung and Lu Van Thon.

The long slide was forewarned.

Lu Van Thon only admitted to the act involving 1 kg of crystal meth. “The defendant only gave 100 million VND to Chung to get 1 kg of crystal meth. The defendant did not know where the remaining drugs came from...”, defendant Thon stated.

The defendants Chung and Quyet confessed their crimes. Looking at Quyet's young face, trembling as he recounted his journey into the drug ring, everyone felt sad. Mrs. Van's tears fell as she looked at her son. This woman said she was very sad because her son had gone astray. She regretted not being careful enough, causing her son to be in trouble with the law.

Quyet joined the cross-Vietnam drug ring at the age of 16. Photo: An Quynh

She said that because of her poor health, she often had to go to the hospital. Before that, Quyet asked for money to buy a motorbike to go to work and serve his work. Sometimes he asked for money to fill up gas. It was only later that she found out that her son was involved in drugs. "He asked to buy a motorbike, so I bought him an old one. Sometimes he asked for a few hundred, saying it was for gas or to fix the motorbike, so I didn't suspect anything. Later I found out that he was addicted to some kind of drug. I cried until I had no more tears, advised him, told him to love his mother and father and give up that deadly thing, but he didn't listen," the mother raised her hand to wipe away her tears.

Quyet's father died when he was only 11 years old. Lacking his father's supervision and his mother's necessary firmness, Quyet dropped out of school after 8th grade, became friends with a group of friends in town and wandered around.

Quyet hung out with older guys, some of whom had been to jail several times. Compared to his mother who cried and blamed him all day, Quyet felt that only these "social brothers" understood him. Then Quyet learned about drugs, also from those social brothers. At first, they invited him, but after he gradually became dependent on drugs, Quyet had to manage on his own. Many times, he found excuses to ask his mother for money to burn on drugs.

Therefore, when Lu Van Thon called and told him to go with Vi Van Chung to the border commune of Tri Le to meet a Mong person to get drugs, Quyet went immediately. Partly because of "brotherly loyalty", partly because he understood that there would be drugs to use.

"His father died early, I raised him alone. Please reduce his sentence, let him stay close, don't let him go far away (to serve his sentence)," she wrung her hands together, and as soon as she finished speaking, she sat down, tears streaming down her face.

Throughout the trial, Quyet rarely looked at his mother, although many times, his mother painfully turned her eyes towards him. Even when the jury deliberated, although they were only sitting about 2 meters apart, Quyet did not look at or speak to his mother.

When the court clerk explained once more that she could sit closer to her son to talk, Mrs. Van gently moved closer to her son. Before they could say anything, the jury began working, so Mrs. Van was unable to say a word to her son.

Ms. Van shed tears many times when hearing her son confess his crime. Photo: An Quynh

In this case, Lu Van Thon was identified as the ringleader, had a bad character, and enticed minors to commit crimes, so he was sentenced to death; Vi Van Chung was sentenced to life in prison.

As for Vi Van Quyet, although he committed the crime as an active accomplice, because he was under 18 years old, had insufficient legal awareness, and committed the crime for the first time, he was entitled to mitigating circumstances according to the law and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Vi Van Quyet and his accomplices were escorted out of the courtroom as soon as the trial ended. The young man turned back, raised his handcuffed arms and waved to his "social brothers". Mrs. Van stood there, bewildered, intending to run after her son, but then hesitantly turned around and walked in another direction. The distance between her and her son seemed to grow further and further...

An Quynh