A mother's pain when her children go to prison one by one

The child "likes" prison food

One day in mid-May, strong Lao winds blew, making the weather in Nghe An even hotter. Early in the morning, Mrs. Mai Thi M. (66 years old) took a bus from Que Phong district to Vinh city to attend her son's trial.

Being old and rarely traveling far, she had to prepare motion sickness pills the night before. Then she whispered: “I am old so I mostly stay at home. In recent years, the only times I have traveled far have been to visit Hai and his younger brother in prison who are also in prison for drug use.”

Lo Van Hai (born in 1985), residing in Kim Son town, Que Phong district, is the second of four children of the couple. She said that her husband is a 5/5 war invalid, so his health is not as good as other people. She took on all the hardships and difficulties to take care of the children on her husband's behalf. However, Hai made his mother sad many times.

Defendant Lo Thanh Hai at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

In 2014, when he reached the age of 30, Hai “gave” his mother a gift of a 9-month prison sentence for intentionally damaging property. A run-in with the law did not make Hai change and work hard, but this young man turned to drugs and a 15-month prison sentence was the price Hai had to pay for his illegal possession of drugs.

After being released from prison, Hai's parents gave him the house to live in. As for her, since her husband died, she has been living with her daughter. Since her daughter got married, she has been living in that house. Because the two houses are close together, Hai often comes over to eat with his mother. Mrs. M. also feels comfortable because she wants her son to be independent, build a career, and stabilize his life soon.

But then, when he was nearly 40 years old, the child once again caused his mother heartache when he bought and sold drugs. According to the case file, while working on Lo Van hill, Hai met a Mong man who sold drugs. On November 5, 2022, Hai met this person and bought 7 million VND worth of drugs, then brought them to his mother's house to hide.

Two days later, Hai divided the drugs into three packages and sold the largest package to Lang Thanh Quyen (born in 1999), residing in Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district, for 10 million VND. After buying the drugs, Quyen took some out to use and spent the night at Hai's camp. Early the next morning, Quyen took the drugs and walked down to the national highway to catch a bus home, but was arrested by the police.

Based on Quyen's testimony, the police urgently arrested Lo Van Hai. Searching the house where Hai's mother was staying, the police discovered 2 packages of drugs that the subject had previously divided into small pieces to hide. The investigation agency determined that in this case, Hai was responsible for the act of buying and selling more than 45 grams.drug. The right to be criminally responsible for the act of illegally possessing more than 38 grams of drugs.

Ms. Mai Thi M. sat sadly watching the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

Mother's pain

The trial of the two defendants proceeded quite quickly as both admitted to their crimes. Hai confessed to buying drugs to sell for profit. Defendant Hai also confessed to hiding drugs in his mother’s house to deceive the authorities. Defendant Quyen stated that because he had been addicted to drugs for more than 2 years, he bought the “goods” to use gradually.

Sitting and listening to her son’s testimony, Ms. M. repeatedly lowered her head to the table. Attending the trial as a person with related rights and obligations because the police discovered many packages of drugs hidden in the house, Ms. M. said she did not know about the amount of drugs. “When the police came to search the house and discovered the drugs, I was extremely surprised. When I found out that the drugs belonged to my son, I was very sad, I did not think that my son would be like that,” Ms. M. shared and admitted that she knew about her son’s drug addiction. The mother said that she had tried many times to advise her son but to no avail.

Then her voice dropped when asked about her family. The mother said that the death of her first child in an accident in the forest haunted her and made her sad for a long time. She had placed all her hopes on Hai, but that child ended up in jail and convicted. Even her third son was in jail for drugs, making her feel like she had lost everything.

This woman said she did not know how many years Hai's younger brother was sentenced to in prison. She only knew that her son was currently serving his third year. "Last year, I asked someone to take me to prison to visit my son. Now Hai is in prison too, so there are two of them. I don't know if I can visit them as an old woman. When people get old, they can rely on their children and grandchildren, but I have to take care of two children in prison. It's so painful and humiliating," Ms. M. choked up.

Ms. M. was helped home by relatives. Photo: Tran Vu

During the court’s deliberations, she only told her son to “try to reform himself.” Hai looked at his mother, then lowered his head, his hands clasped together. The defendant did not apologize to his mother, but remained silent for a long time.

It is unknown whether Lo Van Hai will be able to return home in time to apologize to his old, sick mother when the court sentenced him to 16 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking. Defendant Lang Thanh Quyen was sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegal drug possession.

The trial ended, she fumbled to ask the officer for permission to hug her boyfriend but was stopped. Her son's figure gradually disappeared, she sadly left under the scorching sun.

Tran Vu