Wife follows husband in selling drugs, 8-year-old child bewilderedly goes to court to meet mother

In the hallway of the People's Court of Nghe An province one day in late November, an 8-year-old child sat against the wall listening inside. The boy was the son of the female defendant Nguyen Thi Minh (29 years old), residing in Thuong Son commune, Do Luong district - who was brought to trial by the court for the crime ofIllegal drug traffickingMinh's accomplices include two other defendants, Lu Thi Thuy (31 years old) and Phan Thi Hien (36 years old), both residing in Dien Lam commune, Dien Chau district.

With a skinny figure and a timid face, the boy was quite reserved. The aunt sitting next to him patted his shoulder and said: “This year you are in 3rd grade, one of the smallest in the class. The teachers understand your situation so they often encourage and ask about you. But perhaps because your father is absent and your mother is like that, you are timid and slow to learn...”.

His father is in prison, his mother is also in trouble with the law, the 8-year-old boy followed his relatives to the court to see his mother. Photo: Tran Vu

According to relatives, the child suffered many disadvantages since childhood, and was born without knowing her father. Because when Nguyen Thi Minh was 3 months pregnant, her husband, born in 1986, was arrested for drug-related crimes. “At that time, Minh was 3 months pregnant. Her husband was arrested, which made her depressed but she still had to persevere. After giving birth, she took care of her child and contributed money to visit her husband. The difficulties are indescribable,” said Le Thi Th. (born in 1971, Minh’s biological mother).

When the child was nearly 3 years old, Minh took her son to the prison for her husband to meet. It was also the first time the child saw his father. But perhaps the visit was short, so the image of his father was blurred in the child's mind.

Raising a child alone, without a stable job, Minh had to rely on relatives. But unfortunately, Minh's parents-in-law were also in trouble because of drugs. As a result, the young woman could only rely on her biological parents. However, Minh's father passed away after a serious illness, so life with her mother-in-law was not very comfortable.

Amidst all the difficulties, Minh decided to work as a housekeeper for a family in Dien Chau district. That was the house of Lu Thi Thuy – the defendant in this case.

According to the indictment, in early January 2021, Lu Thi Thuy went to Kim Son town, Que Phong district to buy more than 66 grams of drugs for 17 million VND from a man.

Because at this time, Thuy hired Nguyen Thi Minh and Phan Thi Hien to help with housework. Therefore, Thuy asked Minh to sell drugs for her and the housekeeper agreed. Thuy divided the drugs into many small packages and took some pink pills with a total weight of more than 20 grams to give to Minh to sell, agreeing that each pink pill cost 80 to 100 thousand VND, a package of "crystal" drugs cost 200 thousand VND. At noon on February 3, 2021, while Minh was selling drugs to customers, he was caught red-handed by the police.

Defendant Nguyen Thi Minh was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Nghe An Police Department detained the person in an emergency and searched Lu Thi Thuy's residence, seizing many packages of drugs. At 5:00 p.m. the same day, Phan Thi Hien turned herself in to the police for illegally selling drugs.

Hien confessed that at around 3:00 p.m. on January 31, 2021, while Hien and Thuy were cleaning Thuy's yard, a person came to ask to buy a pink pill. After being instructed by Minh, Hien went to get a pink pill and sold it to this person for 100,000 VND.

The trial of the defendants proceeded quite quickly when all the crimes were clarified. The defendants confessed honestly and admitted their guilt as charged in the indictment. Defendant Thuy said that because of the pressure of her sick husband, she sold drugs. Meanwhile, defendant Minh said that because he worked for the homeowner, he agreed when Thuy invited him to sell drugs. The defendant presented his difficult circumstances, raising a small child alone, asking the court to consider reducing his sentence.

During the court hearing, Minh was allowed to see his son when his relatives brought him in. The 8-year-old did not respond to his mother’s questions, but only bowed his head and wiped away his tears. Relatives said that since his mother was arrested, the boy had become more quiet. He often asked about his mother, but when they saw her again, he did not say anything.

Although he was young, the boy seemed to understand things, so he often told his grandmother to contribute money to visit his mother. "Many times, even though relatives gave him money for snacks, he did not eat them but contributed money to have money to visit his mother," the aunt said sadly when talking about the poor nephew.

As for the unfortunate woman whose daughter and son-in-law were both in prison for drugs, she loudly encouraged Minh in court. “You can rest assured and reform yourself. I will take care of the children at home,” Mrs. Th. told her daughter.

For her role as an accomplice, Nguyen Thi Minh was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Meanwhile, the mastermind, Lu Thi Thuy, was sentenced to 10 years in prison; defendant Phan Thi Hien was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the crime of “Illegal drug trafficking”.

The father is serving a sentence, now the mother is in prison, making the 8-year-old child's future even more uncertain...