Because of a meter of fence, used a knife to take the life of a cousin

(Baonghean.vn) - In the dock, Vo Huu Ba - Lien's husband's cousin wiped away his tears. Just because of a dispute over a few inches of land, Ba used a knife to take the life of his cousin Vo Huu Trien.

With her head wrapped in a mourning scarf, sitting dejectedly behind her husband's portrait, Ms. Lien seemed to have no strength left. When the Chairman called her name, she stood up, her voice tired, as if she was out of breath. "Who will return my husband to me, who will return the father to my two children? Who will raise my children until they grow up?..." she choked up, sobbing.

On the afternoon of December 23, 2017, December 26, just a few days before Tet, Vo Huu Ba (born in 1990, residing in Nhan Son commune, Do Luong) took a knife to cut down tea trees (fence) around the garden of his father's land. This is a land with an undetermined boundary with two neighbors, so when he saw Ba fence the garden, the neighbor came out to remind him but Ba ignored it.

Defendant Vo Huu cried and repented for his crimes. Photo: Nhu Binh

At this time, Mr. Vo Huu Trien went to his parents' house and saw that his father was fencing the garden and encroaching on the road leading to his parents' house, so he asked his father not to fence. Mr. Trien pulled up the fence post that his father had just built and threw it back into the garden. The two men - two cousins ​​- challenged each other.

Mr. Vo Huu Kinh - Ba's father spoke up to stop his son, saying that his family's land was covered with bricks, but Ba seemed not to hear and rushed in to beat his cousin. When Trien hit him back, he hit his broken arm, Ba angrily ran in to get a knife, ran out and stabbed Trien in the stomach.

The incident happened so quickly that Mr. Kinh and the neighbor were too stunned to intervene. Seeing Mr. Trien holding his stomach and trying to crawl on the grass, Ba suddenly came to his senses, threw away the knife, and fled the area. Mr. Trien was taken to the hospital but died from a stab wound to the vital area. On February 1, 2017, Vo Huu Ba returned to turn himself in and confessed to his crime.

At the trial, Ba claimed that he did not intend to take Trien's life but that "the knife was too sharp." "Trien hit the defendant's sore arm, the defendant was so angry that he stabbed him back with the knife," Vo Huu Ba testified in court.

Although the defendant cried and apologized, he could not appease the anger of the victim's family. Mr. Trien's wife said that the couple had just borrowed money to buy a tractor to improve their income. Before the debt was paid off, Mr. Trien was stabbed to death by Ba. She alone bore the pain of losing her husband, not knowing how to raise her two growing sons and the debt that was piling up on her shoulders. The miserable woman suddenly became a widow.

After receiving permission from the judge, Ba turned to face Trien’s relatives who were sitting. His legs almost gave out when he met the angry, pained eyes of the victim’s parents, wife and children. “Please, uncle, please, forgive me…”, he said brokenly and wiped his tears away.

The court entered the session, Ba sat with his head bowed to the ground. Every now and then he would look up, looking around for his wife and children. Ms. Trinh - Ba's wife, holding her second child, was hovering at the door, half wanting to go in, half afraid she wouldn't be able to. Her husband had just finished his prison term last year (a 2-year sentence for "Intentionally causing injury" by the People's Court of Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City). He thought that when he returned to his hometown, he would work hard, but who would have thought...

Mr. Trien died, her husband was imprisoned, her parents-in-law were old and weak, she was struggling with the burden of the family. She borrowed 10 million, brought it to the victim’s house to burn incense to atone for her husband. Now her husband is in prison, has to pay a large compensation to the person, then the child support for the victim’s 2 children and the victim’s mother, she doesn’t know what to do…

The poor woman was holding her child, her body leaning to one side. The boy was wearing his brother's baggy pants, the waistband was so loose that he had to be tied with string. He tried to stretch his body to look at where his father was sitting.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien - wife of victim Vo Huu Trien, wearing a mourning scarf and carrying her husband's portrait to the court. Photo: Nhu Binh

The court sentenced Vo Huu Ba to 20 years in prison for murder and to pay the victim's family 120 million VND in funeral expenses and mental damage. In addition, the defendant is also responsible for supporting Mr. Trien's two children with 605 thousand VND/month/child until they reach adulthood, and supporting the victim's mother with 120 thousand VND/month.

Hearing the judge read the verdict, Ms. Trinh burst into tears and quietly turned away. She did not dare to stay because on the other side, Ms. Lien and Mr. Trien's parents were angry and cursed Vo Huu Ba as the defendant was led out of the court.

Two women who used to be sisters-in-law now cannot look at each other... Two women suffer two different pains but share the same worry of raising children alone and taking care of their parents-in-law...

Nhu Binh