The bitter end of a young father who sold his 'foundation' to traffic drugs

One day at the end of September, the courtroom heard the case of defendant Tho Cong Minh (32 years old), residing in Tri Le commune, Que Phong district, for the crime of“Illegal drug trafficking”no relatives attended

Although Minh turned his head many times to look for a familiar figure, he saw no one. The defendant sadly said that before the trial, he had asked someone to inform his wife and family of the trial schedule, but "probably because there was no money" so no one could go to the city. He said it as if to encourage himself.

Tho Cong Minh was born and raised in Tri Le commune, Que Phong district. The village where he lived was far from the commune center. Born into a large family with economic difficulties, Minh did not go to school. Therefore, this young man did not know how to read or write.

At the age of 19, I got married to a girl 6 years younger than me. The young couple got together when the economy was still difficult, but in a short time, they had 7 children together. The oldest child was only 1 year older than the youngest, so the family's already difficult economy became even more difficult. He confided that his wife was busy taking care of the children, so the family's economy mainly depended on her husband. To support the family, I tried to work on the fields and raise livestock to develop the economy. With the support of relatives, I and my husband saved up to buy a cow to raise, moving towards eliminating poverty.

But, in the end, the young father could not overcome the trap of drugs and participated in the sale of this banned substance. On June 24, 2023, while working in the fields, Tho Cong Minh met and was ordered to buy pink phien by a woman (unknown background and address). Although the local authorities where he lived regularly promoted drug prevention and control, and many mobile courts were brought to trial, Minh still plunged into crime.

To have drugs to sell to customers, the next night, Minh took 25 million VND and walked to the border area adjacent to Laos to buy "goods". With the money he brought, he bought 20 packages of pink phien. Early the next morning, Tho Cong Minh took the drugs to deliver to customers at the pre-announced meeting point. However, on the way, this subject was arrested by the police with evidence of more than 355 grams of drugs.

Responding to the questions of the panel of judges, the defendant Minh admitted to drug trafficking as charged in the indictment. In response to the defendant's excuse of "trafficking drugs because of poverty", the panel of judges asked about the amount of money the defendant used to commit the crime. At that time, Minh stated that he used the money from selling the cow and the savings of the couple to buy drugs. "The defendant did this without discussing it with his wife. The defendant was wrong. Please give the defendant a chance to return to his wife and children soon", Minh stated before the court.

Mentioning his wife and seven children, the defendant cried many times. “I feel sorry for my wife and children. If only I had thought more carefully, my wife and children would not have suffered like this. The family would not have been torn apart like this.” When asked why he broke the law out of love for his wife and children, Minh bowed his head and remained silent.

The defendant stated that he is an ethnic minority and illiterate, so he has little knowledge of the law. Since being detained and being taught by the officers, the defendant realized that his actions were wrong and he is very remorseful. “My children are still young, I ask the court to give me the lightest sentence possible so that I can return to my wife and children soon. I promise never to reoffend. After being released from prison, I will return to my hometown to do business, teach my children to be good people, and stay away from drugs…”, defendant Minh stated.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant was healthy, had full awareness, knew that drug trafficking was a violation of the law, but still did it out of greed. Therefore, the court sentenced Tho Cong Minh to 20 years in prison for the crime of illegal drug trafficking.

I was not educated, got married too early, my wife was not old enough to get married, had many children, while my financial life was not stable. That was also the reason why my life fell into a deadlock. What was even more regrettable was that the following years were the ideal time to set long-term goals for family, career and finance, but I was behind bars. Hopefully this was the time for me to train myself, think about my mistakes, repent and have the right direction for the rest of my life, raise my children with my wife, and not stumble like myself.

Tran Vu