The young man's slip and the father's heart

From addict to “partner”

Originally living in two different localities, Lang Thanh Quyen (24 years old), residing in Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district and Lo Van Hai (38 years old), residing in Kim Son town, Que Phong district, but drugs made these two young men know each other. Not only did they become drug addicts, they were also "partners" in illegal drug trafficking. In the end, both were arrested by the police for drug-related activities. In which, Hai was arrested for "Illegal drug trafficking", and Quyen was in trouble with the law for "Illegal possession of drugs".drug".

Two defendants at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

Accordingly, around the beginning of October 2022, Lo Van Hai went to work on the hill and met and got to know a Mong man, who introduced himself as Duc. Through the exchange, Duc said he had drugs and if he wanted to buy them, he could come to him. Being addicted to drugs and wanting to get rich from this banned substance, on November 5, 2022, Hai walked to the forest area to find Duc and bought 7 million VND worth of drugs. Hai brought the drugs home and hid them at the foot of his bed.

Lang Thanh Quyen is a drug addict, so on November 7, he took a bus to Kim Son town and then walked to Hai's camp to buy drugs. At the camp, Hai gave Quyen drugs to use. After ordering 10 million VND worth of drugs from Hai, Quyen stayed behind to wait until the next morning to receive the "goods".

When he got home, Hai took the heroin package he had hidden earlier and divided it into three parts. He sold the largest part to Quyen and continued to hide the remaining two parts to sell to others. At around 7 p.m. the same day, Hai brought the drugs to Quyen. Early the next morning, Quyen walked down the highway with the drugs to catch a bus home and was caught red-handed by the police.

Based on Quyen's testimony, the police urgently arrested Lo Van Hai. Searching the house where Hai's mother was staying, the police discovered two packages of drugs that he had previously divided into small pieces to hide. The investigation agency determined that in this case, Lo Van Hai was responsible for buying and selling more than 45 grams of drugs. Lang Thanh Quyen was criminally responsible for illegally possessing more than 38 grams of drugs.

In addition to the above drug sale, Hai and Quyen also confessed that around January 2022, Hai sold Quyen a package of drugs for 2 million VND. Quyen had used up all the drugs.

A father's pain

Recently, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance trial of defendant Lo Van Hai for "Illegal drug trafficking" and Lang Thanh Quyen for "Illegal drug possession". From early morning, Mr. Lang Van Th. - defendant Quyen's father was present in the courtroom. The dark-skinned father bowed his head many times when looking at his son in court.

The father silently watched his son leave the court. Photo: Tran Vu

Quyen is the second of three children of Mr. Th. and his wife. As the only son, Mr. Th. and his wife put all their love and expectations on him. But an incident happened to this family, when Quyen was about 5 years old, his mother passed away. Feeling sorry for his son who lost his mother at an early age, the father always tried to make up for Quyen. He could not remember how many sleepless nights he had to take care of and worry about his children's meals and sleep.

Seeing his children young and his family in difficult circumstances, the father also put off remarrying. Living as a single father, Mr. Th. only hoped that his children would always be healthy, study hard, and grow up to be good people. But then, Quyen failed his father's wishes by dropping out of school early.

Before he was 20 years old, Quyen got married and became a father. Getting married early made the burden of making a living and taking care of children seem too much for a father without a stable job. Conflicts in the family continued to build up. Not long after that, Quyen's marriage broke down. Quyen divorced his young wife after a short time of living together.

The failure in his marriage made Quyen even more depressed and turned to drugs. Mr. Th. said that when the family discovered his drug addiction, it was too late. “At that time, Quyen admitted to us that he had been addicted to drugs for more than a year. Knowing that if he got involved with that substance, his life would be ruined sooner or later, we tried our best to advise him. But Quyen still had the same problem. All the money he saved was mainly used to support his addiction,” Quyen’s father shook his head and confided.

Many times he tried to advise his son but failed, making him always worried about Quyen's future. However, his son getting into trouble with the law was something he never thought of. Therefore, hearing that his son was arrested for drugs made the father shocked. Although angry with his son, on the day of Quyen's trial, the father still tried to arrange his family affairs to catch a bus to go down to cheer his son up.

Price to pay

At the trial, defendant Quyen stated that he had been addicted to drugs for many years. Because of his addiction, he spent a large sum of money to buy drugs for gradual use, even though he knew it was against the law. Quyen stated that he did not have a stable job and that the money he used to buy drugs came from savings.

The right to express remorse and regret for his criminal behavior. At the same time, he stated that he was an ethnic minority and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence. At the trial, the defendant also apologized to his relatives, especially his father. The defendant hoped his father would forgive him for the mistakes he had made that had implicated his family and relatives.

Defendant Lang Thanh Quyen was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

Indicted for "Illegal drug trafficking", defendant Lo Van Hai stated that he bought the drugs to divide them into small quantities to sell for profit. Hai explained that he hid the drugs in his mother's house to deceive the authorities. Attending the trial of his son, defendant Hai's mother with salt and pepper hair also admitted that she did not know about the amount of drugs that the police discovered in her house.

When meeting his son during the court's deliberations, Mr. Th. was quite reserved. The father only briefly told his son, "Try to reform yourself." Father and son were only sitting a few rows apart, but they rarely spoke to each other. Only when the court was about to announce the verdict did Quyen turn around and mumble an apology to his father. The son also sent his regards to his siblings at home and promised to reform himself so that he could return home soon.

For the crime of "Illegal possession of narcotics", defendant Lang Thanh Quyen was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Defendant Lo Van Hai was sentenced to 16 years in prison for the crime of "Illegal trading of narcotics".

The trial ended, Mr. Th. silently watched his son being escorted out of the courtroom. When the truck left the court yard, he slowly walked home in the scorching sun. Who knows, during his time in prison, Quyen will realize his mistakes, reform himself, find a chance to reform, and soon return to start a new life, to repay his father who has worked hard all his life for his children or not...