Wife uses weapon to beat deaf and mute husband to death.

On the morning of May 26th, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first-instance trial against Hoang Thi Ngan (born in 1974, residing in Nam Linh commune, Nam Dan district, Nghe An province) for the crime of "murder". The victim in the case was Mr. Dinh Huu L. (born in 1972), the defendant's husband.

Defendant Hoang Thi Ngan is being prosecuted and tried for the crime of "murder". Photo: An Quynh

"Mr. L. was born deaf and mute, but he was kind and hardworking to provide for his family," said a neighbor of the victim. According to this neighbor, the couple occasionally had conflicts during their marriage. When Mr. L. discovered his wife's extramarital affair, the family conflict intensified.

According to the indictment, in the early morning of November 13, 2021, while the couple was sleeping, Mr. L. woke up and started destroying furniture. When Ngân saw this, she asked him what was wrong, and Mr. L. gestured that he had a headache. Ngân gave her husband tranquilizers and then went back to bed.

About 30 minutes later, hearing a "thump, thump" sound on the porch, Ngan went outside and saw Mr. L. banging his head against the porch. When he saw Ngan come out, Mr. L. chased after her. During the scuffle, Ngan used a mop to hit Mr. L. on the head.

Then, Ngan took an iron bar from the kitchen door to use as a door latch and ran out into the yard. Seeing Mr. L. fall, Ngan used the door latch to hit him on the head; Mr. L. got up and chased after his wife with an empty water bottle.

Ngân went inside and continued to hit Mr. L on the head with the door latch, causing him to become disoriented and lie down on a hammock. Seeing her husband lying on the hammock, Ngân continued to hit him repeatedly on the head with the door latch. Due to his disorientation, Mr. L fell to the floor and only managed to grab a nearby V-shaped iron bar and throw it at his wife.

Ngan managed to run into the kitchen and saw a metal pestle repeatedly hitting her husband on the head. After seeing Mr. L. fall to the ground, she went into the bathroom, took off her coat, and came out to find Mr. L. still moving. Ngan then continued hitting him with the pestle until he lost consciousness.

After committing the crime, she dragged her husband to a corner of the yard, changed into new clothes, and washed the towels to wipe away all the blood stains on her body and the floor.

Ngan gathered up all of her husband's belongings and clothes that he had thrown into the ditch in front of the house to dispose of them. Because the house had cameras installed beforehand, Hoang Thi Ngan was afraid to go inside, so she took the iPad and phone and threw them in the field in front of the house.

After cleaning up the "scene," Ngan went to call her two children and said, "Dad's dead. When Mom screams, you and your sister run to the neighbor's house to call for help." Then, Ngan grabbed the glass bottle and the bicycle pump, threw them out into the yard, and screamed.

Hoang Thi Ngan turned on the lights and cried, while her two children ran to a neighbor's house to report the news. Everyone rushed over and took Mr. L. to the hospital for emergency treatment, but he was pronounced dead earlier.

The autopsy revealed the victim died from a fractured skull and hemorrhage due to multiple brain injuries. At the police station, Hoang Thi Ngan also confessed to all of her actions.

At the trial, when questioned about the assault, Hoang Thi Ngan calmly confessed and described each act, leaving those in attendance stunned.

When the judge asked Ngan about her motive for committing the crime, she calmly replied, "At that time, I was like an animal, beating my husband for no particular reason."

Hoang Thi Ngan burst into tears upon seeing her child. Photo: An Quynh

Hoang Thi Ngan was prosecuted by the People's Procuratorate of Nghe An province for the crime of "Murder" under point n (with hooliganistic nature), clause 1, article 123 of the Penal Code, with a penalty range of 12-20 years, life imprisonment, or the death penalty.

After considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the court decided to sentence the defendant Hoang Thi Ngan to life imprisonment for the crime of "murder" and ordered her to compensate the victim's mother for emotional distress as well as provide financial support for the victim's two children.