Young wife stunned in court when husband sentenced to death

Former student "shipped" drugs by car

DayTran Van Cuong(30 years old), residing in Tan Viet commune, Dong Trieu town (Quang Ninh province) was brought to trial by the People's Court of Nghe An province for the crime of "Illegal transportation of drugs". His 25-year-old wife was also present in court. She and a few relatives took a bus from Quang Ninh to Nghe An the night before to see her husband after more than 8 months apart.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, she could only silently watch her husband from afar. With so much longing and anger, when someone asked, the woman burst into tears and said: “I don’t understand why he did that. Since he was arrested, the three of us have only relied on each other to survive. The two children (5 years old, 2 years old) kept asking about their father. I was afraid that they would be sad, so I lied and said that their father was working far away. However, my eldest child understood the situation and asked many times. I don’t know how long I can hide it from my children.”

Defendant Tran Van Cuong. Photo: Tran Vu

Then the young woman told about the peaceful days of her husband and wife. They both lived in the same province but different districts. While working for hire, they got to know each other and decided to live together. For the convenience of work, Cuong and his wife decided to temporarily live with his wife's family.

Cuong studied at a college and worked in mining, but after graduation he did not pursue this career. This young man decided to learn more about driving to work for hire. After driving for hire for a while, Cuong and his wife discussed and borrowed money from the bank to buy a car to drive a taxi. “Every day, I go to work as a factory worker and he drives a taxi. Due to the nature of our work, we only see each other at night. It was difficult, but my husband and I always encouraged each other to try. More than a year after buying the car, when life gradually stabilized, I heard that he was arrested in Nghe An for drug-related crimes. At that time, I was very shocked,” Ms. L. (Cuong’s wife) recounted the incident.

According to the case file, on January 20, 2021, Cuong received a phone call from Tung (a previous acquaintance, unknown background and specific address) asking him to go to Nghe An to receive drugs and then take them to Quang Ninh. With the promise of paying 10 million VND for the work, Cuong agreed.

Cuong went to meet Tung, received 3 million VND in advance, then drove to Nghe An. At 1:00 a.m. the next day, Cuong received a phone call from a man who promised to come to Hieu Bridge area, Thai Hoa town (Nghe An) in a few hours to receive drugs. At dawn, Cuong arrived at the meeting place and this man said that the drugs were hidden between two electric poles near the negative slope at the head of Hieu Bridge.

Cuong walked down the bridge and saw a bag of snake carcasses containing drugs, so he took it and put it in his car to go home. At that moment, the Nghe An Police task force discovered and caught Tran Van Cuong red-handed holding many types of drugs with a total weight of more than 1.4 kg.

The young wife was flustered when she saw her husband being escorted home after the death sentence. Photo: Tran Vu

The pain of a young wife

At the witness stand, at first defendant Cuong said he did not know that the "goods" he was hired to receive in Nghe An were drugs. "Defendant said he did not know they were drugs, but we must understand why they hired him for 10 million VND. With such a large amount of money, surely defendant did not think it was just goods?", a judge asked. At this point Cuong was silent.

The defendant later admitted to the crime. The defendant said he worked as a taxi driver, so when someone hired him, he agreed because he was greedy. “They promised to pay me 10 million VND, but I only received 3 million in advance. I took 500,000 VND to fill up gas and drove to Nghe An, then I was arrested by the police,” Cuong told the court.

Cuong repeatedly stated that he felt very sorry for his crime. According to Cuong, he graduated from a college of mining but did not pursue the profession because he was afraid of the risk of accidents. Therefore, he decided to learn to drive to make a living. After many years of working, he and his wife decided to borrow money from the bank to buy a car and register it with a taxi company to pick up passengers. "The defendant feels very regretful. If he had not taken the money, he would probably still be working to support his wife and children. His children are still young. I ask the court to give him a way to live," Tran Van Cuong stated to the panel of judges in his final statement.

At the trial, the defendant presented some mitigating circumstances such as his family had contributed to the revolution, and he had once informed the Coast Guard about a case of firecracker trafficking in Nghe An, asking for a chance to live. During the deliberation, the young wife could only sit and cry silently. Cuong looked down several times at his wife and mother, then looked back up again.

Defendant Tran Van Cuong was sentenced to death. Photo: Tran Vu

Although the defendant presented some mitigating circumstances, the panel of judges determined that the defendant's actions were dangerous to society. The defendant transported a large quantity of drugs. Therefore, the court sentenced Tran Van Cuong to death for the crime of Illegally transporting drugs. As for the man named Tung, Cuong did not know his background or specific address, so there was no basis for investigation and clarification.

The husband was sentenced to death, the young wife sat below awkwardly following but did not have time to say goodbye. Late at noon, she quietly left the court to return to Quang Ninh while her two young children were still temporarily staying with relatives at home. An uncertain future lay ahead that the young woman did not dare to think about...