Woman who murdered creditor in the early morning hours receives increased prison sentence.
(Baonghean.vn) - When Huệ went to Ms. Hương's house to repay a debt in the early morning, the creditor mistook her for a thief and beat her by covering her with a blanket. During the struggle, Huệ pressed her hands against Ms. Hương's face and neck, causing the victim's death.
On September 26th, the Hanoi High Court of Appeal opened a high-level criminal appeal trial against Ho Thi Hue (born in 1991), residing in Quynh Thien ward, Hoang Mai town, Nghe An province, for the crime of "murder". Previously, in the first instance trial, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court sentenced the defendant Hue to 13 years in prison. The legal representative of the victim filed an appeal requesting an increased sentence and consideration of the "robbery" charge against the defendant Hue.
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| Defendant Ho Thi Hue at the high-level appellate court hearing. Photo: Nhu Binh |
The case file shows that Hue borrowed a total of 5.6 million VND from Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong (born in 1954, living alone in Quynh Thien ward). Around 6:00 AM on January 5, 2016, Hue hitched a ride to Ms. Huong's house to repay 2 million VND in advance. After calling but receiving no response, Hue went through four layers of doors and entered Ms. Huong's bedroom.
Ms. Huong mistook Hue for a thief, so she covered Hue's head with a blanket and hit her. The two struggled, with Hue sitting on top of Ms. Huong, using both hands to press down on the victim's face and neck until she lay motionless. The next morning, relatives discovered Ms. Huong dead. Six days later, Ho Thi Hue was arrested.
At the trial, the defendant Hue admitted to the murder but insisted she did not commit robbery. According to her, after seeing Ms. Huong lying motionless, she was so frightened that she used a crowbar to pry open the safe in order to create a false crime scene to mislead the authorities' investigation, not with the intention of robbing the victim.
The panel of judges concluded, based on the investigation and questioning results, that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Ho Thi Hue committed the act of robbing the victim. However, while the first-instance court's sentencing did not comprehensively and fully assess Hue's criminal behavior to arrive at an appropriate sentence.
The High Court of Appeal decided to partially accept the appeal of the victim's legal representative, amending the first-instance judgment and sentencing Ho Thi Hue to 15 years in prison.
