Two young men each received 19 years in prison for a nighttime chase that left one person dead.
On September 22, the High-Level People's Court in Hanoi opened an appeal hearing at the headquarters of the People's Court of Nghe An province, trying two defendants Le Xuan Dat (born 2001) and Nguyen Cong Y (born 2002), both residing in Vinh Loc ward (formerly Phuc Tho commune), Nghe An, for the crime of "Murder". After the investigation and finding new mitigating circumstances, the panel decided to partially accept the appeal, reducing the sentence from 20 years to 19 years in prison for each defendant.
According to the indictment, on the evening of May 25, 2022, Bui Doan Gia Huy (born 2005) and Bui Huu TH (born 2000, residing in Do Luong commune, Nghe An) made an appointment to meet due to a conflict with a friend of Huy's.
Huy told Pham Duy Dat (born 2000, resident of Vinh Phu ward). Over the phone, Duy Dat told H. to go to another location to "settle things". Late that night, H.'s group rode motorbikes to the meeting place.
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When Pham Duy Dat's group, including Le Xuan Dat, Nguyen Cong Y... were standing in front of a kiosk, they saw H's group moving on the street. At this time, Le Xuan Dat took a motorbike carrying Y, carrying weapons, and chased H's group.
During the chase of about 10km, when the two vehicles were moving at high speed on the road, Y took a machete and slashed once at the motorbike driven by Nguyen Dang Tien Dat carrying Nguyen Thai Quang and H. Seeing Y raise the knife and slash at him, Tien Dat swerved to the right to avoid it and fell onto the road.
As a result, H. died after 2 days of emergency treatment, Quang suffered 80% health damage. After learning of H.'s death, Y went to the police station to surrender.
At the first instance trial in April 2023, the People's Court of Nghe An province sentenced Le Xuan Dat and Nguyen Cong Y to 20 years in prison each for "Murder".
On August 16, 2023, the Hanoi High People's Court of Appeal overturned the first instance judgment for reinvestigation on the grounds of clarifying the criminal acts of Pham Duy Dat and other related subjects to avoid missing criminals and offenders; ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of the victims.
Afterwards, the People's Court of Nghe An province reopened the first instance trial on February 28, 2025. At the trial, the victim's representative requested the panel of judges to reconsider the contents as stated in the appeal trial.
The representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province, exercising the right to prosecute at the trial, presented evidence and argued that the investigation agency had conducted investigative activities such as confrontation, searching for evidence, extracting camera footage, and recording statements of related people, but could not prove Pham Duy Dat's role as an accomplice in the case.
The panel sentenced Le Xuan Dat and Nguyen Cong Y to 20 years in prison each for “Murder”. In terms of civil matters, the court ordered each defendant to compensate the legal representative of the victim H. more than 212 million VND and compensate Mr. Quang 113 million VND.
The two defendants then appealed for a reduction in their sentences, while the representative of the victim H. appealed, claiming that the crime had been overlooked. At today’s appeal hearing, the victim’s representative did not present any new evidence for their request.
The two defendants admitted their crimes and have influenced their families to compensate the victims for their civil damages. The victims' representatives asked for a reduced sentence for the defendants.
The Court of Appeal found that it was necessary to take into account new mitigating circumstances for the defendants, so it partially accepted the appeal and revised the first instance sentence from 20 years in prison to 19 years in prison for defendants Le Xuan Dat and Nguyen Cong Y for the crime of murder.
