Elderly couple led each other to court to receive sentence for drug trafficking
(Baonghean.vn) - Greedy, Xi and Lau couple sold drugs to a Laotian and were arrested by the authorities. On the day of the trial, citing old age and poor health, the couple asked to be allowed to walk together.
On November 24, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of two defendants, the couple Va Y Xi (64 years old) and Gia Chong Lau (72 years old), residing in Bac Ly commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".
The indictment stated that because Xi and Lau were in poor health, the couple discussed buying a house.herointo hide to pay the hired worker for their family. Every working day, the couple paid the hired worker 50 thousand dong, if they did not take the money, they would pay with drugs.
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| The two defendants, husband and wife, in court. Photo: Tran Vu |
Around May 2021, while bathing in the stream, Xi met a Laotian man who asked him to sell him a package of drugs for 50 million VND. Xi agreed. Xi took the drugs home and told her husband. Lau agreed to sell the drugs with his wife and then took some of the "goods" to sell to customers for 100,000 VND.
At noon on June 9, 2021, Ky Son District Police came to inspect the residence of Xi and his wife and discovered a package of drugs weighing more than 236 grams.
At the trial, both defendants admitted to the crimes as charged in the indictment. Both husband and wife asked the court to reduce their sentences due to their old age and poor health...
The panel of judges determined that in this case, the two defendants had mitigating circumstances, which were their honest confessions and repentance. In addition, defendant Lau also had mitigating circumstances, which were that the offender was 70 years of age or older.
Considering the case as a whole, the People's Court sentenced Va Y Xi to 20 years in prison and Gia Chong Lau to 17 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking.
