Escaped woman returns to denounce human trafficker

(Baonghean.vn)- Knowing that she was being tricked and trafficked, Ms. Hieng agreed to marry a Chinese man nearly 20 years older than her. After 9 years of being a wife in a foreign land, taking advantage of the time when her husband was working far away, Ms. Hieng took her two children and fled through the jungle to find a way back to Vietnam, writing a complaint against the trafficker to the authorities.

In early September 2016, the Provincial People's Court brought the defendant Luong Thi Xuan (born in 1961), residing in Don Phuc commune, Con Cuong district, to trial for human trafficking. Present in court as the victim, Ms. Vi Thi Hieng (from the same hometown as the defendant) also brought her youngest child, nearly 7 years old, whose surname is Khua, of her Chinese father. Because the child did not know her mother tongue and was sick, the court "made a special exception" for Ms. Hieng's child to sit next to her mother.

According to the indictment: Luong Thi Xuan was born and raised in Hong Dien village, Don Phuc commune, Con Cuong district. In 2001, after her husband and she divorced, Xuan left her two sons with her family and found a way to go to China to do business.

Luong Thi Xuan

In the suburbs of Beijing, although she was in her forties, thanks to her beauty, Xuan married a divorced man who was relatively well off. After 5 years of living together, to have money, Xuan returned to Vietnam and tricked new girls into saying she was going to China to do business, but in reality, she was selling them to Chinese men to marry.

In early August 2007, Xuan returned to Vietnam and arrived in Don Phuc commune, Con Cuong district. To deceive naive and gullible teenage girls, before returning home, Xuan bought all kinds of jewelry such as necklaces, rings and gold bracelets... but they were fake gold.

Seeing that Xuan had left with nothing but gold around his neck when he returned, the villagers gathered at his house to visit him and kindly offered to let their children go with Xuan to China to do business.

Knowing that the “fish had taken the bait”, Xuan happily accepted. Two days later, Xuan “recruited” three unmarried girls from the same commune, aged 19 and 20, including: Vi Thi Hieng and Bui Thi Bao, both residing in Hong Thang village, and Vi Thi Hoa, residing in Hong Dien village, both in Don Phuc commune, Con Cuong district.

Using this "trick", Xuan went all the way to Nga My commune, Tuong Duong district and tricked Kha Thi Hai (20 years old), who was unmarried. Xuan made an appointment with Hai to be at Don Phuc commune, Con Cuong district on September 5 to go with 3 girls who were relatives in Xuan's village.

On the evening of September 5, to avoid detection by the commune police, Xuan hired a taxi to take the four girls to Con Cuong town to catch a bus to Vinh city to continue to Mong Cai, Quang Ninh province.

On September 7, while Xuan was taking the four girls to a rented room to stay and take them to China the next morning, he received a phone call from Vi Thi Hoa's family saying that Hoa could not go anymore. Xuan agreed to take a bus so Hoa could return home. The next morning, Xuan took Hieng, Bao and Hai to China via an illegal route, then took them to Xuan's house in the suburbs of Beijing.

When she got home, Xuan introduced the girls to her husband, who is Chinese. Xuan told the girls: “He loves and pampers his wife very much, as long as I live next to him, I have to pamper him. My husband makes the money, I just take care of the housework and live faithfully, knowing how to take care of my husband. Now that I’m here, if I want to be as happy as you and have a lot of money to send back to my parents, there is only one way: to marry a Chinese man and live here forever.”

Knowing that they had been deceived by Luong Thi Xuan, all three girls were afraid and asked Xuan to let them return to their hometown to work in the fields and get married. Even though they would be hungry and lack clothes, they still had their hometown, parents, and relatives by their side, but Xuan did not agree.

Road to Don Phuc commune (Con Cuong). Photo archive

After 2 days of both threatening and persuading, Xuan sold Bui Thi Bao and Kha Thi Hai to 2 Chinese men for 10,000 yuan each.

Ms. Hieng refused to marry a Chinese man and begged Xuan to let her return home. However, after selling Ms. Bao and Ms. Hai, 3 days later, Xuan tricked Ms. Hieng to go to her husband's boyfriend's house to see the house. If she liked it, she could marry him, if not, she couldn't.

However, Xuan had previously sold Ms. Hieng to this man for 10,000 yuan. Xuan left Ms. Hieng at her husband's friend's house and called a taxi to go home. Realizing that she had been sold, Ms. Hieng ran after him to the car but Ms. Xuan closed the door and did not let her in, and then left.

After 9 years of accepting to be a wife in a foreign land, without relatives and a language barrier, Ms. Hieng lived like an unpaid servant and had no news of her relatives back home.

The most heartbreaking thing was that she gave birth to two children for her husband but was not allowed to be a mother because of the tyranny of her husband's family. Unable to bear it, Ms. Hieng tried to escape from this family and find a way to return to Vietnam.

One day in mid-January 2016, taking advantage of her husband's business trip to a distant province, Ms. Hieng called a taxi and took her two children with her to escape from her husband's house. After nearly a week of running away, hungry and cold, and worried that her husband's family would track her down, arrest her and beat her, Ms. Hieng and her three children finally reached Mong Cai border gate, Quang Ninh province.

Here, thanks to the intervention and assistance of the Vietnamese Border Guard, Ms. Hieng and her two children were allowed to pass through the international border gate and return home safely.

Knowing that Ms. Hieng had taken her two children and fled back to Vietnam, Mr. Hieng went to see Luong Thi Xuan and her husband, asking Xuan to return to Vietnam to take the children back to China and promised to pay a large salary. Xuan agreed to return to Vietnam, hoping to encourage Ms. Hieng to take the children back to China.

On April 4, 2016, discovering Xuan in Don Phuc commune, Ms. Vi Thi Hieng wrote a complaint against Xuan for human trafficking and sent it to the authorities. On April 12, 2016, the Criminal Investigation Department of Con Cuong District Police urgently arrested Luong Thi Xuan for the above crime.

Present at the trial of Luong Thi Xuan in early September 2016, Ms. Hieng asked the panel of judges to reduce Xuan's prison sentence, but in civil matters, she asked the defendant to compensate her over 100,000,000 VND. After considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel of judges sentenced the defendant Luong Thi Xuan to 6 years in prison for human trafficking.

Regarding civil liability, the court also ordered defendant Luong Thi Xuan to compensate Ms. Vi Thi Hieng a total of 68 million VND.

Central Germany