Wife sends newborn child nearly 300 km to meet husband in court

Leading illegal immigrants to avoid quarantine

Lau Ba Chu (born in 1989) lives in the mountainous commune of Nam Can, Ky Son district. Living near the border area, adjacent to Nam Can border gate, Chu often travels back and forth to Laos. Also because he is a local, Chu knows quite well the shortcuts to cross the border to Laos. That is the indirect reason that pushed Chu into the path of crime related to the crime of "Organizing illegal exit and entry for others".

Specifically, on June 7, Chu went to see the cows and coincidentally met Dau Xuan Chung (residing in Nghi Loc district) and a man named Phu. The two people from the lowlands explained their difficult circumstances, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they had no jobs. Their wish was to go to Laos to find job opportunities and support their families. These people "asked" them to take themcross the borderfrom Ky Son district to Laos, Chu agreed and asked for 7 million VND as payment. Chung and the man accompanying him agreed.

Defendant Lau Ba Chu in court. Photo: Tran Vu

Then, Chu led the two people to the Vietnam border area with a small road to Laos. On the way, Chu called a Laotian to ask him to pick up and lead Chung and Phu to the other side of the border. When they arrived at the Vietnam-Laos border area, Chu collected 7 million VND from Chung and Phu and gave it to the Laotian. Chu gave the Laotian 1.6 million Lao Kip and returned home.

After being taken to Laos by Chu, Chung did many jobs to make a living. However, due to unstable work and unsatisfactory salary, on August 7, Chung contacted Chu to explain that he wanted to return to Vietnam. Chung's purpose was to ask Chu to take another route to avoid Nam Can Border Gate to avoid being quarantined against Covid-19. At first, Chu did not agree, but because Chung kept asking, this local man accepted on the condition that he had to pay 1.1 million Lao Kip.

At noon on August 10, when Chung arrived at the bus station in Noong Het district, Xieng Khouang province, Laos, he was picked up by someone arranged by Chu to take him across the Laos-Vietnam border. Chung was picked up by Lau Ba Xua (Lau Ba Chu's brother). But later, because Xua had an urgent matter, he asked a motorbike taxi driver to wait for Chung to go to Muong Xen town and was arrested by the authorities. On August 11, Lau Ba Chu was ordered to be arrested by the authorities in an emergency and prosecuted for "Organizing illegal entry and exit for others".

Late regret

In court, Chu stated that the reason for his crime was his limited legal awareness. He stated that he simply thought of “helping” Chung and the man who accompanied him to Lam to do business and did not think that he would be prosecuted by the law. However, when the judge analyzed him, he expressed remorse, admitted his wrongdoings and promised not to reoffend. Chu presented his difficult circumstances, his wife had just given birth to a small child, to ask for a lighter sentence.

During the sentencing, Chu expressed his deep regret for his actions that made his family sad. “The thing I regret the most is making my wife sad and not being able to see my newborn child,” Chu confided.

At the time Chu was arrested, his wife was pregnant with their second child. Therefore, during the delivery, the woman did not have her husband by her side. Fortunately, she had relatives and her husband's family by her side. The defendant's brother who attended the court shared: Since his wife gave birth to their second child, Chu has not once seen his child.

Today, the family planned to take the child down, but because of the long distance and harsh weather, they decided not to, and only Chu's wife came to court. They hope that he will reform well and soon return to his family and see his child. Meeting his wife in court, when the young father mentioned his child, he burst into tears. For Chu, that was sadness but also motivation for the defendant to reform well.

Lau Ba Chu's wife traveled a long distance to attend her husband's trial. Photo: Tran Vu

Considering that the defendant's actions are dangerous to society, violate administrative management order in the field of immigration, negatively affect the maintenance of political security in the border area, and cause social disorder in the locality. The defendant's organization of others entering the country without the control of competent authorities creates a potential risk of other types of crimes, especially in the work of disease prevention and control while the Covid-19 epidemic situation is complicated, the panel sentenced Lau Ba Chu to 12 months in prison.

With the above sentence, if including the time in detention, Chu has about 8 months left to serve his sentence, which means that this Lunar New Year, Chu will not be able to reunite with his family. However, the biggest consolation for Chu is that his family encourages him to feel secure in his rehabilitation. Even the defendant's wife, despite having just had a cesarean section, arranged to come to court to encourage her husband. Hopefully, this is a great lesson not only for Chu but also for many others.