Woman sentenced to 9 years in prison for trafficking children to China
(Baonghean.vn) - With the promise of receiving a large commission for sending people to China, Mui lured a girl from the same village. Gullible and trusting, the girl, who was over 15 years old, agreed to go to a foreign country to get married.
On the morning of July 9, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Moong Thi Mui (born 1988), residing in Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of Child trafficking.
According to records, in early 2016, Mui was at home when a woman named Tan (residing in La Ngan village, Chieu Luu commune) who had married a Chinese man came to talk about finding someone to take to China to sell. Tan said that if she successfully took someone to China, she would receive 20 million VND. Mui accepted and started looking for “prey”.
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| Defendant Moong Thi Mui. Photo: Tran Vu |
In November 2016, Mui came to Lu Thi Ch.'s house (born 2001, living in the same village) to discuss going to China to get married. Mui whispered to the girl that if she married a Chinese man, she would have a happy life, and her family would receive 100 million VND. Gullible and trusting, the girl agreed.
A few days later, Mui took a bus to take Ch. to Vinh City, then to Mong Cai (Quang Ninh). On the way, Mui called a woman named Tan to inform her that she had found the person and was on her way to China.
After illegally crossing the border, the two were picked up by Tan. About 10 days later, Tan sold Ch. to a local man for 60,000 yuan (equivalent to 140 million VND). Tan gave Mui 120 million VND to take back to Vietnam. Mui then gave 100 million VND to Ch.'s parents as initially promised, and Mui kept the remaining money.
During her time living with her Chinese husband, Ch. gave birth to a child. On November 24, 2018, Ch. asked her husband to let her return to Vietnam to visit her family, but her purpose was to escape. On December 10, 2018, the authorities discovered Moong Thi Mui's child trafficking and arrested her. The investigation agency determined that Lu Thi Ch. was only 15 years, 3 months, and 20 days old at the time of her sale.
During the investigation, Mui also confessed that in July 2017, he took another victim to China to sell for 120 million VND. However, the authorities determined that there was not enough evidence for this sale, so they have not brought it to trial. When there is enough evidence, it will be handled later.
At the trial, Moong Thi Mui admitted her crime and asked for a lighter sentence so she could return to her family. The representative of the legal rights defender for the victim and the victim also submitted a petition for a lighter sentence for the defendant.
Considering the case as a whole, the People's Court sentenced Moong Thi Mui to 9 years in prison for Child Trafficking (higher than the penalty proposed by the People's Procuracy).
