Murdered neighbor just because of 'petty pride'
(Baonghean.vn) - Just because of the provocation of a neighbor, Ho Sy Be (Do Luong) used a knife to take the life of his neighbor, the main breadwinner of a family of 5... Be's actions left pain for many people, including his mother.
The cruel knife
It has been 6 years since the incident, but Ms. Nguyen Thi Th., mother of defendant Ho Sy Be (born 1986), residing in Thuong Son commune, Do Luong district (Nghe An) still cannot get over the mistake her youngest son made. Even the compensation for the victim is still weighing heavily on the defendant's blind mother's shoulders. Remembering clearly the fateful night when her youngest son ran home to report the murder, Ms. Th. could not help but feel heartbroken: "I wish that day I had stopped him from going out drinking, then this incident would not have happened."
Before that, at around 7:00 p.m. on February 6, 2018, Ms. Th., Be and some people in the neighborhood went to a self-management group meeting at the house of Mr. Nguyen Hoang Thuan (residing in Thuong Son commune). Right after the meeting, Be invited some young people in the neighborhood to go to a drinking place to "talk", including Mr. Nguyen Van H. (born in 1982).
After sitting at the table for a while, Mr. Nguyen Van H. saw Ho Sy Be sitting on the mat without crossing his legs, so he reminded him to "sit cross-legged properly". However, because Be's left leg was broken and had just undergone surgery and could not be bent, Be replied: "You can't sit like that with a leg that just cost tens of millions of dong to have surgery!"
Because he did not believe that leg surgery would cost so much money, Mr. H. thought that Be was “overdoing it”. Feeling offended because the neighbors thought he was “bullshitting” and having a little alcohol in their system, Be and Mr. H. argued and pushed each other. Seeing Be and Mr. H. arguing, everyone stood up and left, leaving the two sides to continue fighting. Out of anger, Be opened the trunk of the car, took out a fruit knife and stabbed Mr. H. once in the ribs, causing the victim to collapse on the spot.
Seeing Mr. H. fall to the ground unconscious, Bé quickly called the people around to take the victim to the emergency room. When people took Mr. H. to the clinic, they discovered that the victim had died. An autopsy showed that the victim had a punctured heart and lungs and died before reaching the hospital.
After committing the crime, Be rode his motorbike home and told his mother that he had just stabbed Mr. H. to death, then went to the Do Luong District Police to surrender.
The pain left behind
Ho Sy Be is the youngest son of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Th. She was blind from a young age due to a serious illness. When she reached marriageable age, she was introduced to a man in the same village. The couple gave birth to 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. As the youngest child in the family, Be was pampered more than his older siblings. However, due to difficult economic conditions, Be was not a hard-working person, so he dropped out of school when he was only in the 4th grade.
Having no education and a grumpy temperament, Ho Sy Be only stayed at home to help his parents with farm work, and did extra work when asked. While his peers had settled down, Be was 32 years old but still unmarried. This made his mother very sad.
On the night of the incident, when her son said he had killed someone, Mrs. Th. almost collapsed. However, she still encouraged and advised her son to turn himself in to the police to receive leniency from the law. At the time her son was arrested, this miserable mother tried to borrow 18.5 million VND to compensate the victim's family with the hope of making up for some of the damage, as well as hoping that they would ask for a lighter sentence for her son.
“Their (victims’) families are also suffering a lot. But I myself don’t make any money, I’m blind and now old and weak, I can only occasionally bring some eggs, a bunch of vegetables, and a little money to visit Ms. L and her children,” Ms. Th. shared.
In fact, the situation of the victim, Mr. Nguyen Van H., is very pitiful. Since Mr. H. - the breadwinner of the family died, his family has fallen into extreme poverty. According to people in the neighborhood, Mr. H.'s family situation is also particularly difficult. The mother and her four children, grandmother and grandchildren live in a small, dilapidated house. Previously, the family's life depended on Mr. H.'s earnings from working as a carpenter. Ms. Nguyen Thi L. (the victim's wife), due to poor health, only stayed home to grow some seasonal vegetables to sell at the market.
Since her husband died, Ms. Nguyen Thi L. has been sick and looks much older. In addition to farming, Ms. L. also collects scrap metal to earn some extra money to support her children. Although she works hard, she only earns 50-60 thousand VND per day. That amount of money is not enough to feed 5 mouths and pay for medicine for the children...
Severe sentence
In mid-June 2018, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial against Ho Sy Be for the crime ofKilling. Despite the hot weather, the people attending the trial were present early to wait. They were all neighbors of both the defendant and the victim. Everyone felt sorry for the fate of the two families, because of a small incident, one lost his life, the other had to appear in court.
At the trial, the victim’s family wore mourning scarves and brought their portraits to the courtroom. Because there was no one to look after her youngest child, Ms. Nguyen Thi L. had to bring her three young children to the trial of her husband’s killer. At the time of the incident, the victim’s youngest child was only 4 months old. According to relatives, Ms. L.’s older child had to skip school many days to look after her younger sibling while their mother went to work.
“Every night I dream of my father coming home. Seeing my mother struggling to raise three children and send them to school, I feel so sorry for her. But I am still too young to work to earn money. Many times I have to lie that I am allowed to skip school to stay home and look after my younger siblings while my mother goes to work. Because my mother cannot work, my younger siblings are hungry,” said Q., L.’s eldest child. Every time their mother comes to attend a trial, the three children carry each other out of the courtroom to play and look after each other.
At the first instance trial, defendant Bé bowed his head and confessed to all his crimes. Regarding the knife used in the crime, Bé said he was cutting bread when someone called him to go out for a drink, so he conveniently put it in the trunk of the car and did not intend to bring it to kill anyone. When he stood before the court, Bé still could not explain his actions. Bé said that he only took out the knife to threaten the victim because he was so angry, but he did not understand why he threw the knife and took the victim's life.
“Because I was drunk and couldn’t control myself, I acted so recklessly. Before that, there was no conflict or disagreement between me and the victim. It was just a spontaneous action. I am very remorseful. I apologize to the victim’s family and hope Ms. L. will forgive me for my foolish actions,” Be said, lowering her head and mumbling.
Ms. L., the legal representative of the victim, requested the defendant Bé to compensate for funeral and emergency expenses of 42.3 million VND; compensate for mental damage of 500 million VND; provide for the three children of Mr. H. according to the law until they are 18 years old and Mr. H.'s mother. Ms. L. said that if the defendant's family promised to compensate the full amount requested, they would ask the Trial Council to reduce the sentence.
Hearing Ms. L. say that, Ms. Th. could only shake her head and choke up, saying: "Now that life is for life, we have to accept it, but my family doesn't know where to get such a large sum of money to pay compensation. I have been blind since I was a child, and now I am old and weak and can't work anymore. He will definitely face a high sentence, and I don't know when he will be released from prison to pay compensation to that person...".
The jury determined that the defendant’s crime was extremely serious, hooliganism, disregard for the lives of others, and required long-term isolation from society. However, the defendant turned himself in, confessed honestly, and influenced his family to compensate the victim’s family with 18.5 million VND, which are mitigating circumstances.
Considering the case in its entirety, the Trial Panel sentenced Ho Sy Be to 20 years in prison for murder. In civil matters, the defendant Be was ordered to compensate the victim 160 million VND for funeral expenses and mental damage. In addition, the court also ordered the defendant to be responsible for supporting Mr. H.'s 3 children, 1 million VND/child per month until they reach adulthood; and supporting the victim's mother, 500,000 VND/month.
The trial ended, seeing the image of the three little sisters following their mother home in the sun made the witnesses shed tears. The wrongdoer had to pay the price, but all the disadvantages and difficulties were placed on the mother, the wife, and the innocent children...