Humanity behind the verdict

Slashing each other over a cup of wine

Having been away from home to work for many years, now returning to his hometown to meet his relatives, Mr. Vi Van Kh. (born in 1986; residing in Pong village, Chau Nga commune, Quy Chau district) happily visited and greeted familiar families in the village.

Being neighbors in the same village and having a family relationship, on the afternoon of June 8, 2022, Mr. Vi Van Kh. brought a bottle of wine to the house of his uncle Ha Van Duc (born in 1970; residing in Pong village, Chau Nga commune, Quy Chau district) to visit his uncle's health as well as to chat and chat.

The two uncle and nephew continued to “saw in half” a bottle of wine, chatting for 5 hours. At around 4 pm, Vi Van Kh. fell asleep at the drinking place because he drank too much. Meanwhile, Ha Van Duc was still in the kitchen chopping wood to cook dinner.

While Duc was cooking in the kitchen, he heard people talking upstairs. He thought his nephew was talking badly about him. Duc asked, “Kh., are you cursing me?” but no one responded. He was already drunk and now he was even more angry because he thought his nephew had talked badly about him behind his back and was not answering him, making Ha Van Duc unable to control himself. Duc conveniently reached for the machete in the corner of the kitchen to “talk clearly” with his nephew.

However, when he got there and saw Vi Van Kh. sleeping soundly, Ha Van Duc aimed at his nephew's head, face, stomach, and arms and slashed them repeatedly. Suddenly slashed, Kh. woke up, screamed, and then rushed to hug Duc, causing him to drop the knife on the floor. Kh. ran away, but due to too many injuries, he collapsed right at the foot of the stairs. Duc followed his nephew to the door, but due to dizziness, he sat down on a chair, and a while later went to the living room to sleep.

Hearing the screams, the people around promptly took the victim to the hospital for emergency treatment. Through examination, Mr. Vi Van Kh. had a total of 28 injuries on his head, face, back, abdomen, arms... The percentage of Mr. Kh.'s body damage caused by injuries at the time of examination was 55%. It took half a month of treatment for Mr. Kh. to recover enough to be discharged from the hospital and return home.

On the morning of June 9, 2022, Ha Van Duc was arrested by the authorities for investigation. During the investigation, the investigators felt that Ha Van Duc had many abnormal manifestations. The Investigation Police Agency of Nghe An Province Police decided to request a psychiatric assessment of Ha Van Duc. The assessment results showed that before, during, and after committing the crime and at the time of the assessment, Ha Van Duc suffered from mental and behavioral disorders due toalcohol use, the remission stage. At the above times, Ha Van Duc had limited cognitive ability and ability to control behavior.

"We are still blood relatives"

On December 15, 2022, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of Ha Van Duc for the crime of "Killing”. The trial had a large number of participants, all of whom were family members of the defendant and the victim.

At the trial, defendant Ha Van Duc admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment. Victim Vi Van Kh. said that Duc's actions were due to the influence of alcohol, and that the two of them normally had no conflicts. After the incident, although the defendant was poor, his family paid all of his medical expenses. The victim hoped that the Trial Panel would consider reducing the defendant's sentence.

After questioning, debating and objectively and comprehensively assessing the case, the Trial Panel concluded that the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province prosecuted the defendant Ha Van Duc for "Murder"; the right person, the right crime, and the right law. The victim Vi Van Kh. did not die because of the defendant's subjective will.

However, in this case, the defendant has many mitigating circumstances such as honestly confessing, actively compensating, remedying the consequences, and asking for a reduced sentence...

The panel of judges determined that the defendant Ha Van Duc's behavior was hooliganism, disregarding the law and requiring strict legal action. However, part of the reason for the defendant's behavior was the influence of alcohol. After the incident, the defendant had influenced the victim's family to remedy the consequences. During the investigation as well as at court, the defendant confessed honestly, admitted to the crime, and the victim also asked for a reduced sentence for the defendant. Considering the entire case as well as many other mitigating circumstances, the panel sentenced defendant Ha Van Duc to 8 years in prison for "Murder".

Both the defendant and the victim's families are poor households in Pong village (Chau Nga commune, Quy Chau district). At the time of Mr. Kh.'s incident, his youngest daughter was just over 1 year old. Mr. Kh. was both the breadwinner and the main laborer of the family. After the incident, Ms. Vi Thi H. (defendant Ha Van Duc's wife) ran around and borrowed 40 million VND from her siblings to compensate Mr. Kh.'s family.

However, understanding his family's situation and understanding that the reason was due to alcohol, the couple only accepted 20 million VND for the hospital and medicine, the rest of the money Mr. Kh. sent back to his family to take care of his uncle.

“Every family is in trouble. Luckily, I am still alive so I can still work. But now that Duc is in prison, leaving behind his wife and young grandchildren, things are even more difficult. After all, we are blood relatives, so I try to support his family in some way,” Mr. Kh. shared.

Ha Van Duc and his wife were living with their two grandchildren. The children worked far away, so they were forced to leave their two grandchildren with their grandparents. Since the incident, the three of them have been eating one meal at a time. Every time she took the bus to visit her husband, she left her grandchildren with a neighbor to look after. Ha Van Duc is currently serving his sentence at Nghi Kim Detention Center. He has a mental illness and is deaf, so even though he sees his wife and children, he can only mumble and not say much.

The story of Ha Van Duc’s family is not only a lesson for the people of Pong village but also for all of us. Don’t let a glass of wine make you lose yourself, or even cause the people around you to suffer and suffer.