The man who cut off 4 fingers to 'prove' his innocence is now serving a life sentence.

As the youngest of five siblings in Dien Thanh commune, Dien Chau district, Cao Xuan Hieu (36 years old) always received attention from his parents and siblings. However, Hieu's stubborn personality was soon revealed.

Relatives recounted that when Hieu was in 5th grade, his neighbor's family accused him of stealing. Hieu insisted that he was innocent, but his neighbors still did not believe him. To prove that he was not a thief, Hieu cut off his own fingers. Since then, Hieu has lost 4 fingers on one hand.

After finishing 9th grade, Hieu decided to quit and followed his friends to work for hire everywhere. In 2007, while taking a motorbike taxi to his girlfriend's house, due to a disagreement over money, Hieu got into a fight with the motorbike taxi driver. The victim was lucky to survive, but Hieu was prosecuted for two crimes: Murder and Robbery. Cao Xuan Hieu was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Defendant Cao Xuan Hieu in court. Photo: Tran Vu

In October 2018, Hieu walked out of the prison gate and started a new life. When he arrived home, Hieu seemed to collapse when he saw his father's portrait. Hieu's father had passed away about 4 months earlier due to a serious illness. At that time, Hieu's mother was also seriously ill with cancer. To make amends with his deceased father and make up for his mother, Hieu took good care of his mother. Every month, Hieu took his mother to Vinh City for medical examination and treatment.

But not long after, his mother also passed away. Losing his mother made Hieu feel like he had lost the spiritual support of his life. Hieu's brother said: "Since my mother passed away, Hieu has been very sad, always tormenting himself. Feeling sorry for him, we could only encourage him and find him a suitable job. Having made a mistake once, everyone hoped that Hieu would start his life over again. That was also my father's wish before he passed away."

Fearing that his younger brother would follow his friends outside, his older brother found a suitable job for Hieu. After that, Hieu followed a group of workers in the village to work as a bricklayer on construction projects. The salary of more than 200,000 VND a day also helped Hieu cover his living expenses.

“Knowing that he was old and had been in prison once, we always encouraged him to find a suitable girl to settle down and start his life over. The family also heard that he knew a girl in the mountainous district of Que Phong, so we were happy for him. But then, before we could be happy, we received the bad news that Hieu was in trouble with the law,” his brother sadly said.

It was April 2, 2020, Hieu drove to his girlfriend Ngoc's house in Chau Kim commune, Que Phong district. Because he didn't know her house, Hieu called her house while driving. While listening to Hieu talk, a man wearing a mask came and asked, "Are you from the lowlands?". Hieu answered "yes" and was hired by this person to transport a package to the lowlands and would pay him 5 million VND. At that time, Hieu vaguely understood what the package was but still agreed.

The renter also showed Hieu another way to avoid the police. Hieu agreed and received 2 heroin cakes weighing 699.115 grams and 18 pink packages weighing 363.55 grams from the unknown man. When Hieu reached Ba Long village, Chau Hoan commune, Quy Chau district, the police stopped the car and checked. Seeing the police, Hieu tried to turn around but was arrested with the evidence.

The second time he stood before the witness stand, Hieu answered the court's questions clearly. At first, Hieu said he was just a delivery man, not knowing that it was drugs. But then, Hieu bowed his head and admitted his crime. The defendant said that because he was poor, when someone asked him to hire him to transport drugs, he agreed. The defendant asked the court to reduce his sentence so that he could have another chance to rebuild his life, which had been marred by darkness.

Quietly attending the trial, the defendant's two siblings could only shed tears. Pitying him, they encouraged Hieu to reform well. "Before this trial took place, Hieu called me and told me not to tell anyone in the family about the trial date. Hieu did not want everyone to come to court to make him sadder. But I could not bear to leave him alone like that, so I invited a few people to take a bus to court. Now, wherever he went wrong, he must correct it," Hieu's brother confided.

Seeing his brother being led away, Hieu's brother could only stare blankly after him. Photo: Tran Vu

What made this brother think was that after Hieu was arrested, his girlfriend stopped contacting him. His friends “outside the society” were nowhere to be seen. When they met for a few minutes during the court hearing, the brother could only encourage Hieu to “try to reform well”. Hearing his brother’s advice, Hieu nodded, remained silent, and his eyes filled with tears.

For the crime of Illegally transporting drugs, Cao Xuan Hieu was sentenced to life in prison. Hearing the sentence, the honest older brother could only sit down in a chair and watch his younger brother being taken away to an indefinite prison sentence.