The bad past of a man who committed murder twice

The drug addict's bad background

Ta Quang Hong (born 1994), residing in Quan Bau ward, Vinh city, is the youngest of two children. His father passed away, Hong lived with his mother, but his time with his mother was constantly interrupted because he was in trouble early on. After finishing 6th grade, Hong dropped out of school and followed bad friends from there.

In 2011, when he was only 15 years old, Ta Quang Hong committed a fraud and was sentenced to 9 months in prison, but the sentence was suspended. Because Hong was not yet an adult, his mother had to compensate the victim 7.5 million VND. However, up to this point, the defendant's relatives have not yet made the compensation according to the court's decision.

Three years later, Hong was involved in a murder case that caused a stir in public opinion. It was at the end of 2013, just because a kumquat was accidentally picked by a little girl, two groups of kumquat and peach traders got into a fight, resulting in one person's death. Hong was determined to have participated in that incident and was sentenced to 7 years in prison for murder. The criminal sentence has been served, but Hong has not yet completed the compensation.

After being released from prison, with no qualifications or skills, Hong continued to follow his “social brothers” to make a living and became addicted to drugs. In 2019, Hong was sent to a drug rehabilitation camp according to the decision of the Vinh City People’s Court, with a mandatory rehabilitation period of 18 months.

Not long after finishing his compulsory drug rehabilitation, this young man relapsed. Therefore, Ta Quang Hong was sent to compulsory drug rehabilitation for the second time, starting on September 22, 2021.

During this rehabilitation period, Hong was selected by the rehabilitation center to be a student to help at the Rehabilitation and Health Rehabilitation Treatment Room. However, after about 10 months of rehabilitation, this student committed a murder that resulted in the death of a man who had only been admitted to the rehabilitation facility for one session. During the investigation, the authorities determined that the cause of the victim's death was due to Hong's actions.

Committing a crime at a drug rehabilitation facility

Accordingly, on the afternoon of July 7, 2022, Mr. Le Minh S. (born in 1967), residing in Vinh City, was taken to a voluntary drug rehabilitation facility in Vinh City. Here, Mr. S. was taken for a drug test. Because he could not urinate and was hungry for drugs, Hong and another student took him to take a bath.

During the process of collecting urine for testing, Mr. S. still could not urinate, so Hong slapped him in the face and used his foot to hit his stomach and chest. After that, despite his efforts, the man still could not collect urine, making Hong even more angry, so he continued to hit Mr. S. on the back.

By 5 p.m. the same day, Mr. S. still could not urinate due to cystitis, so Hong beat Mr. S. When the officer took Mr. S. to collect urine, he suddenly threw himself into a wall and a tree to commit suicide, but was stopped by everyone. Afterwards, the officer made a record of the incident.

That evening, Mr. S. agreed to be catheterized to take a urine sample. The results showed that he was positive for drugs. At 9 p.m. the same day, the rehabilitation center discovered that Mr. S.'s health had deteriorated, so they took him to the hospital for emergency treatment. However, he had already died. As for the perpetrator, the next day, Ta Quang Hong was arrested by the police.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime but said he did not intend to kill. The defendant said that because Mr. S. could not urinate and was having an addiction attack, Hong took him to the bathroom to relieve the attack. During the bath, the man defecated on the spot, which angered the defendant. Unable to control himself, the defendant punched and kicked the victim, and at the same time cleaned and bathed him again.

That same evening, because the victim refused to shackle herself and was unable to urinate, the defendant beat her a third time. After three beatings, the victim died from multiple broken ribs, broken sternum, and a ruptured spleen, causing respiratory and circulatory failure.

After the incident, the Vinh City voluntary drug rehabilitation center provided the victim’s family with 150 million VND in civil support. The victim’s family representative did not request additional civil compensation.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant's illegal actions caused the victim's death and negatively affected social order. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with the case seriously, both to educate the defendant to become a good citizen and to have a general preventive effect. However, it is also necessary to consider some mitigating circumstances for the defendant, such as his honest confession and repentance. Considering the case as a whole, the panel of judges sentenced the defendant Ta Quang Hong to 19 years in prison for murder.