'Pimp' in Dien Hai commune (Dien Chau) buys children to force into prostitution
(Baonghean.vn) - In order to attract customers to his shop, Phuc came up with a way to find young girls to serve and sell sex. This "pimp" forced the girl, who was over 15 years old, to "serve" customers at the shop many times despite the victim's protests.
Nguyen Quang Phuc (47 years old), residing in Dien Hai commune, Dien Chau district, opened a seafood and grocery store on Dien Chau beach in 2015. In order to attract customers, Phuc came up with the idea of finding young girls to serve at the store.
In early 2016, Phuc contacted Luong Thi Thuy (born in 1976, residing in Chau Quang commune, Quy Hop district) to discuss finding young girls from the mountains to come down to the beach to serve. Phuc told Thuy clearly in advance about finding people, in addition to serving, they also sold sex. The owner of this shop also promised to pay Thuy 2 million VND and instructed: "If you meet anyone who has ever worked as a prostitute, tell them directly, and if they are young, tell them they work as a serving girl, when you see other people selling sex and get used to it, then let them do that job."
On April 17, 2016, Thuy went to Chau Tien commune, Quy Hop district with the purpose of looking for young girls and met Nguyen Thi Tien (born in 2001, the victim's name has been changed) standing outside. Thuy immediately lured the girl to work at a restaurant for a friend, promising to "pay her 4 million VND per month". The girl said that she had to ask her parents' permission to go anywhere. When Thuy contacted her, even though her father did not agree to let his daughter work, Thuy still had the intention of deceiving the girl.
The next day, taking advantage of the time when Tien went out to buy sweet soup, Thuy took the child with the intention of handing her over to Phuc. Seeing that the girl was still young, Thuy asked several times, “Is she too young to be a prostitute?” Phuc said, “Just bring her down here and learn gradually.”
After taking the girl back to the shop, Phuc repeatedly enticed and forced Tien into prostitution despite her persistent objections. When he saw that the girl had earned money for him, Phuc transferred 2 million VND to Thuy for her wages. This “pimp” also asked Thuy to send 3 million VND to Tien’s family, saying that it was an advance salary.
The incident of Tien being beaten and forced to “serve” customers was discovered by someone else, who tried to report it to the victim’s family. Hearing that his daughter was working on the beach, on May 5, 2016, Tien’s father wrote a complaint to the Quy Hop District Police asking for his daughter’s rescue.
After the investigation, the police arrested Thuy and Nguyen Quang Phuc. These two subjects were prosecuted for the crime of Child Trafficking. During the investigation, Phuc was diagnosed with schizophrenia, so the People's Court of Nghe An province decided to temporarily suspend the case and apply compulsory treatment at the Central Psychiatric Hospital 1. The defendant Luong Thi Thuy was tried and sentenced to 7 years in prison for the crime of Child Trafficking.
As for Nguyen Quang Phuc, after a period of compulsory treatment, he will be cured by early June 2023. Therefore, the People's Court of Nghe An province recently brought this defendant to trial for the crime of Child Trafficking.
At the witness stand, defendant Phuc admitted to committing the crime as charged in the indictment. The defendant admitted that he asked Thuy to buy the child for the restaurant to serve and force her to “serve” customers. Phuc expressed remorse and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence.
It is known that the victim in the case had a particularly difficult situation. She lost her mother before she was 1 year old. Since then, she has lived with her father and brother. Poverty prevented her from going to school. When her father remarried, she was neither close nor hostile to her stepmother. Because she did not go to school, Tien's path was from home to the fields to help her father and stepmother with farming and raising livestock.
Therefore, when Thuy invited her to go work to earn money, she was very excited. However, when she knew her father did not agree, she did not dare to disobey. However, because she was still young, when Thuy took her, she did not resist and was taken to a restaurant in the Dien Chau beach area.
During her work, when the girl refused to “serve” the customers, Phuc threatened and even beat her. With no other choice, the girl had to close her eyes and “serve” the older customers so that the boss could collect money. After a while, she was rescued thanks to a tip from some people. Although she escaped the place of humiliation, the dark memories still haunt the young girl.
Based on a comprehensive review of the documents and evidence in the case file that were debated at the trial, assessing the nature and extent of the crime and mitigating circumstances, the panel sentenced defendant Nguyen Quang Phuc to 5 years, 5 months and 27 days in prison for the crime of "Trafficking in children" (equal to the time the defendant was detained, imprisoned and forced to receive medical treatment).
