The pain of a mother whose son is in prison for drugs
(Baonghean.vn) - Seeing her son standing in court, clearly confessing his crimes, Mrs. H. was surprised because she had never known that her son was a drug addict and drug dealer. At her old age, this woman only hopes for a peaceful life, surrounded by her children and grandchildren...
Digging holes to bury drugs in the garden
At the end of December 2023, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Vi Xuan Thanh (born in 1996), residing in Nghia Hoi commune, Nghia Dan district, Nghe An. Ms. Nguyen Thi H. (defendant's mother) also attended as a person with related obligations, which is the motorbike. Since receiving the news that her son was arrested for drugs, Ms. H. still could not believe this truth. Because to her, Thanh was a good son and knew how to help his mother.
According to the case file, in early 2020, Thanh went to work in the mountainous district of Que Phong and met a Mong man (name and address unknown) who asked to buy drugs for use. During the process of getting to know him, Thanh gave his phone number to this person so that when there was a customer to buy pink drugs, this person would introduce him to Thanh to sell for profit.
In May 2023, a man called Thanh to buy 2 packages of drugs. Thanh agreed and agreed on a price of 3 million VND/package. After that, Thanh contacted the Mong man to order 2 packages.pink sheetPrice 1 million VND/package, bring to Quynh Luu district to deliver to customer and receive 6 million VND.
Seeing that the case had been successful, on May 25, Vi Xuan Thanh continued up the mountain to Que Phong district to meet a Mong man and asked to buy 10 packages of pink phien for 10 million VND. After receiving the "goods", to avoid detection by relatives and authorities, Thanh dug a hole in his family's livestock shed to hide it.
On the night of June 1, a strange phone number called Thanh, introducing himself as an acquaintance of a Mong man who ordered 10 packages of opium. Thanh agreed on a price of 3 million VND/package and the two parties agreed to make the transaction at Quang Thanh General Hospital, Quynh Hong Commune, Quynh Luu District.
So the family dug up the hidden drugs in a plastic bag and drove to the meeting point on a motorbike, but while waiting for customers, Thanh was caught red-handed by the Quynh Luu District Police working group with the evidence.
Mother's pain
The trial of defendant Vi Xuan Thanh had quite a few relatives present. Mrs. H. sat quietly listening to her son confess his crime. Every now and then, this woman wiped away her tears. For Mrs. H., the thing that worries her most is that Thanh is still not married. "This year he is 27 years old and still not married. After his prison term ends, he will be over 40 years old. Will there be enough time for Thanh to make amends with a small family, while his mother is already on the other side of life?" - Mrs. H. sighed.
Thanh is the third child in a family of four siblings. The family had many children and economic circumstances were tight, so after finishing 6th grade, Thanh stayed home to herd cows, catch crabs, and catch snails for his mother to sell to earn extra income. When he grew up, Thanh met friends online and asked his mother to let him go to driving school. The family had no money, so Mrs. H. had to borrow money from her siblings and go back to her hometown to ask for money for Thanh to go to school. Mrs. H. told her son many times to try to focus on studying so that he could find a job to support himself. Unexpectedly, while driving, a few times when friends invited him to use heroin, Thanh took the risk and became addicted. Immersed in "white death" while the money he earned was only enough for personal expenses, Thanh thought of selling drugs to both make a profit and have "goods" to use.
“With a driver’s license, Thanh went to the mountainous districts to transport cassava for hire. I don’t know when he became addicted to drugs, but it was probably recently. When he went to work, he didn’t give his mother any money. Occasionally, he came home to ask his mother and sister for money to buy cigarettes. Sometimes 20,000 VND, sometimes 50,000 VND, but everyone just felt sorry for him so they gave him a couple of times without thinking he was addicted,” said Mrs. H.
At the trial, Thanh confessed that his difficult family circumstances and his drug addiction led to his crime. When the judge asked about the money to buy drugs, Thanh confessed that he had hoarded it while working for hire. Regarding the Mong man, the defendant knew him while working for hire to transport cassava but did not know his name, age, or address. The two had traded drugs twice, but the second time was not successful and he was arrested.
“I work but my monthly income is unstable, the money I earn is only enough to get by. While driving for hire, I became addicted but only used 5 pills a day because I had no money. I know my actions were wrong, I ask the court to reduce my sentence so that I can return home soon to take care of my elderly mother” - defendant Vi Xuan Thanh regretted.
The panel of judges determined that in this case, the defendant Vi Xuan Thanh had mitigating circumstances such as honestly confessing and repenting for his actions. The defendant committed the crime for the first time and had not yet benefited from the drug trade. Considering the case as a whole, the panel sentenced the defendant Vi Xuan Thanh to 20 years in prison for the crime of “Illegal drug trafficking”.
Hearing the verdict on her son, Mrs. H. slowly followed him to the car to the prison, feeling remorseful and blaming herself. She blamed herself for not knowing sooner to stop her son from committing a crime. She hoped the verdict would be a warning lesson for this 27-year-old man so that Thanh would have the opportunity to correct his mistakes, reform well and soon return to take care of his elderly mother.