Murdered wife over child custody
Suspecting that his wife was having an affair, Tai and his wife often argued. His wife took their two children back to her mother's house. Wanting to have custody of the two children, Tai stabbed his wife to death.
On January 31, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court opened a first-instance trial and sentenced Tran Phu Tai (28 years old, residing in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City) to 20 years in prison for “murder”. The victim in this case was the defendant’s wife, with whom he had two children.
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| Defendant Tai after the court's verdict |
Around June 2017, Tai suspected his wife of having an affair, so the couple often had sex.patternconflict, quarrel. Therefore, Ms. Trinh brought her two children to live at her biological mother's house in Tan Thoi Hiep Ward, District 12.
On June 30, 2017, Tai went to his mother-in-law's house to pick up his two children and take them home in Hoc Mon.
On the evening of July 2, 2017, Ms. Trinh came to pick up her two children and take them back to her mother's house. A while later, Tai returned home and discovered that his wife had taken his two children away. He was so angry that he took two knives and put them in the trunk of his car and went to his mother-in-law's house. At about 8:10 p.m. the same day, Tai arrived but Ms. Trinh had not yet returned home. Tai turned around and waited at the entrance of his wife's alley. About 15 minutes later, Ms. Trinh took her two children home but Tai stopped the car and demanded that she hand over the children. Ms. Trinh did not agree, so Tai opened the trunk of his car and took out a knife to threaten her.
At this time, Tai's two children were scared so they got out of the car, but Ms. Trinh was still sitting in the car and was stabbed many times by Tai with a knife.
Seeing their father stab their mother, the two children panicked and cried for help. When people came to help, Tai took a knife and ran away but was arrested by the police.
Ms. Trinh was taken to the emergency room immediately afterwards but died due to a ruptured thoracic aorta.
In court, Tai confessed honestly and was very remorseful for his actions. However, after reviewing the evidence and public questioning, the panel of judges determined that Tai's actions were very hooliganistic, coldly and brutally attacking someone who had been close to him and had two children with him, so a severe sentence was needed to be a sufficient deterrent. Therefore, the court imposed the above sentence.
