Paying with drugs, old couple buried the rest of their lives behind bars

Gia Chong Lau (72 years old) and Va Y Xi (64 years old) are a married couple, living in Bac Ly commune, Ky Son district. Including their biological children, stepchildren and adopted children, this couple has 14 children. The oldest child is almost 50 years old, while the youngest adopted child is only 2 years old.

The grown children had moved out and Va Y Xi and his wife were old and could not work on the farm, while they had a lot of land. Therefore, the couple had to hire workers. For each working day, Xi and his wife paid the hired workers 50 thousand dong.

At the trial, defendant Xi repeatedly used her hand to support her husband. Photo: Tran Vu

One day in early June 2021, while going to the stream, Xi met a Laotian man who offered to sell a package of drugs worth 50 million VND. A new plan immediately popped into this woman's head. Xi took the drugs home and told her husband that paying the farm workers with drugs would not only save them money but also "keep" the workers. Hearing his wife say that, Gia did not stop her but agreed.

Along with paying their employees with drugs, the Lau couple also sold them to addicts. On June 9, 2021, while three employees of the Xi couple were gathering at the boss's house to use drugs, they were discovered by the police.

During the inspection, the authorities seized 236 grams of heroin in the bedroom of the Xi couple. The couple Gia Chong Lau and Va Y Xi were prosecuted and brought to trial for the crime.Illegal drug trafficking.

Standing before the witness stand, the two defendants appeared tired and slow. Especially the image of defendant Lau, bent over, due to his hunched back and old age, made many people attending the trial feel sorry. Through an interpreter, both admitted to selling drugs as charged in the indictment. Xi confessed that because he was illiterate, had little knowledge of the law, was in difficult circumstances, and was old and weak, he took drugs from Lao people to sell and paid the workers.

Defendant Xi also admitted to having persuaded her husband to sell drugs. Sitting next to his wife, Lau struggled to stand up each time he was questioned. Seeing her husband like that, Xi stood next to him and helped him up. Like his wife, defendant Lau admitted to violating the law and asked the court to reduce his sentence because of his old age and poor health.

At the trial, based on the amount of drugs that the two defendants bought and sold as well as the role of each person, the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province held the right to prosecute at the trial and proposed that the panel of judges sentence Va Y Xi to 19-20 years in prison, and defendant Gia Chong Lau to 16-17 years in prison. Hearing the sentence that the Procuracy proposed for the couple, Xi immediately stated: "The defendant is old and has many illnesses... Please give the defendant a few years less so that he can return to his children and grandchildren."

Addicted to drugs, Lau went to prison at the age of 72. Photo: Tran Vu

The panel of judges determined that in this case, the two defendants had many mitigating circumstances, such as being ethnic minorities, having limited legal awareness, being sincere, repentant, and reformed during the investigation and trial process... As the initiator, defendant Va Y Xi was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Committing the crime as an active accomplice, defendant Gia Chong Lau was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the crime of illegal drug trafficking.

Hearing the interpreter translate the verdict just announced, the face of the defendant Va Y Xi changed color. The defendant Xi said something in his ethnic language, the interpreter explained, "Mrs. Xi said 20 years in prison is too "expensive", she was afraid she would die in prison...".

Late at noon, the old couple bent over to help each other down the stairs of the building.

Falling into prison at an old age, the dream of reuniting with their children and grandchildren in their final years of life became distant for the couple Lau and Xi...