Addicted to drugs, young father cries continuously in court
(Baonghean.vn) - Participating in a drug trafficking case, Toan was arrested along with his accomplices. When facing the verdict of the law, the young father of two young children cried continuously. The defendant justified that he took drugs to help his friend out of respect and did not gain any benefit.
“Because of respect and helping a friend to collect debt, the defendant got into trouble with the law. In this case, the defendant did not benefit at all. The defendant feels very regretful and realizes that this is an expensive lesson for himself,” Dang Trong Toan (29 years old), resident of Cong Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, defendant in the case of illegal drug trafficking, said at the trial opened at the end of August at the People's Court of Nghe An province.
According to the indictment, around mid-November 2022, Toan was asked by his friend Tuan (currently working in Germany) to collect 4.5 million VND that Nguyen Van Truong (29 years old, residing in Khanh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district) had previously borrowed.
At noon on November 20, Toan contacted Truong to order 102 pills of drugs (priced at 7.2 million VND), asking to deduct the amount owed to Tuan. After receiving the "goods", Toan paid an additional 2.5 million VND and used up 3 pills of drugs.
The following afternoon, Toan brought the "goods" to the Xa Doai orange garden (in Nghi Dien commune, Nghi Loc district) to sell to a customer in Vinh city, but was checked by the police and caught red-handed. Based on Dang Trong Toan's testimony, the police arrested Nguyen Van Truong. Both were prosecuted for the crime.Illegal drug trafficking.
Dang Trong Toan was born into a family with a revolutionary tradition, with both his parents being awarded many Resistance Medals. As a young man, Toan had served in the military and was awarded the title of Advanced Soldier. That was the pride of himself and his family.
Although he did not follow the path of a professional soldier, when he returned to his hometown, Toan was quite active in participating in volunteer activities. Those activities helped Toan gain the love and respect of many people.
After getting married, Toan became a father of two children. The children were in school age, which made the financial burden even greater. However, instead of focusing on doing a decent job, Toan chose the wrong path, which led to breaking the law.
Defendant Toan said that because he had a friendship with a friend who was living abroad, he agreed when this person asked him to collect the debt. However, the defendant did not explain why the friend who asked him to collect the debt instead bought drugs and then denied the debt.
On the witness stand, Toan repeatedly justified his crime by saying that he had done it out of respect for his friend and helped him collect his debt. The defendant burst into tears and explained that he had not benefited from the case and felt like everything was falling apart when the police handcuffed him. “I got into trouble with the law just because I respected my friend. I feel very remorseful and realize that this is a valuable lesson for me,” Toan said while wiping away his tears.
Toan shared that during his time in detention, he felt guilty towards his wife, children and elderly parents. Many nights he was tormented, blaming himself for how easily he had fallen into the path of drug trafficking.
The trial was attended by Toan's mother, wife and some relatives. Toan's mother cried many times when she saw her son, whom she and her husband had placed so much hope in, commit a drug-related crime. She hoped that her son would try to reform, correct his mistakes, become more mature, and not stumble again after he was released from prison. Looking back at his mother's tears, Toan apologized many times. At the same time, he told his mother to take care of her health during the time he was away from home.
In his final statement, defendant Toan presented many details to ask the court to reduce his sentence, such as: having saved a drowning person, participating in a volunteer team to help flood victims in the Central region, helping people quarantined by Covid-19, his parents were people with revolutionary contributions and were awarded many resistance medals...
The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s criminal behavior violated the law and was dangerous to society. However, in this case, defendant Dang Trong Toan had many mitigating circumstances, so he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Meanwhile, his accomplice Nguyen Van Truong had a bad personal history as he had been imprisoned twice for gambling. Therefore, the court sentenced Truong to 16 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking.
After receiving a 15-year prison sentence, Toan tried to turn around and apologize to his wife and mother. Although his regret was too late, if he was determined, he still had the chance to return to show his gratitude to his mother, wife, children, and relatives.