Driver without license, tested positive for drugs, caused accident that left 2 people dead and injured

On August 19, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened an appeal trial of defendant Nguyen Huu Chinh (41 years old), residing in Bach Ha commune, Nghe An (formerly Dai Son commune, Do Luong district) for the crime of "Violation of road traffic regulations”.

The accident involving Chinh occurred at 9:15 p.m. on February 23, 2024 in Dong Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District (now Quang Dong Commune). Due to not paying attention and not keeping a safe distance, the car driven by Chinh collided with a motorbike driven by Nguyen TM (born in 1987, residing in Quang Dong Commune), carrying Nguyen TV (born in 1951).

When the accident happened, Chinh stopped the car, got out to check and saw Mr. M. lying near the edge of the road, Mr. V. lying in the ditch, and the motorbike fell in the middle of the right side of the road.

About 5 minutes later, the car driven by Mr. Truong Van Hoa (born in 1980) crashed into the motorbike that had an accident and continued to crash into Chinh's car. As a result, Chinh's car fell into the water, Mr. V. died on the spot.

Mr. M. was injured and taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. After that, the authorities assessed Mr. M.'s injuries and concluded that the body injury rate was 87%. As for Mr. V., because the victim's family refused an autopsy, the cause of death could not be determined.

After the accident, authorities determined that driver Chinh tested positive for drugs. At the time of the accident, Chinh's Class C driver's license had expired, so this driver was considered to have no driver's license.

For the crime of violating regulations on road traffic, Nguyen Huu Chinh was sentenced by the court of first instance to 3 years in prison and ordered to compensate the victim more than 500 million VND (previously the defendant had compensated the victim 110 million VND).

Afterwards, Mr. M. filed an appeal requesting an increase in the prison sentence for defendant Chinh and an increase in civil compensation.

At the appeal hearing, the defendant stated that it was drizzling that day, which limited visibility, leading to the accident. Regarding the positive drug test result, the defendant stated that he had used drugs 2 days before.

The victim's representative attending the court presented the great mental damage and medical expenses that Mr. M. is experiencing after the accident. The victim's family requested compensation of more than 1 billion VND.

The male defendant expressed remorse for his crime and presented his difficult circumstances, including his HIV status, asking the court to consider reducing his sentence.

After the trial, the appellate court accepted part of the victim’s appeal. The prison sentence for Nguyen Huu Chinh was increased from 3 years to 4 years. Regarding the civil part, the court ordered the defendant to pay compensation of more than 616 million VND.