The case of a 3-year-old child being abused by her mother and lover, there are signs of a crime being overlooked
Believing that there were signs of missing a crime, the People's Court of Hoc Mon district decided to return the case file of the 3-year-old child abused by her mother and lover for further investigation.
On November 6, the People's Court of Hoc Mon District (HCMC) opened a first-instance trial for defendant Nguyen Thao Nguyen (23 years old, residing in Tan Binh District) for the crime of "Torturing others" and Le Van Bam (45 years old, residing in Cu Chi District) for the crimes of "Torturing others" and "Illegal possession of drugs".
This case once caused public outrage when the mother used her phone to record her lover torturing her own child.
The trial was presided over by Judge Nguyen Lien Quan. The victim was defended by lawyer Tran Thi Ngoc Nu.
According to lawyer Tran Thi Ngoc Nu, the victim, Tran Nguyen AT, is currently being cared for by the Ho Chi Minh City Children's Rights Protection Association at SOS Children's Village. The child's health and mental state are stable and he is being well cared for.
Defendants Nguyen Thao Nguyen and Le Van Bam in court.
According to the prosecution, in 2018, Nguyen married Mr. Tran Minh T. and had 2 children together. In October 2021, Mr. T. was sent to compulsory drug rehabilitation.
During this time, Nguyen lived as husband and wife with Le Van Bam in Ba Diem commune (Hoc Mon district) with two children.
On April 10, 2022, Bam forced AT (3 years old, Nguyen's stepchild) to hold a bottle of mineral water and place it on a speaker box as high as his head, always holding the bottle with both hands and not letting go.
After holding for a while, AT got tired and put his hand down, Bam cursed and threatened, making him scared and cry. At the same time, Bam used his hand to hold T.'s penis and threatened to cut it, making AT cry loudly. On April 25, 2022, Bam continued to torture AT.
Witnessing her lover abusing her child, Nguyen did not intervene but used her phone to record it and used her Facebook account named "Thao Nguyen" to send it to others for fun and entertainment.
In March 2023, Mr. T. finished his drug rehabilitation and returned to his hometown to find Nguyen to visit his children. Because Mr. T. and Nguyen had previously sold goods online, Mr. T. borrowed Nguyen's Facebook account named "Thao Nguyen" to continue selling goods. When logging in, Mr. T. discovered videos of his children being tortured, so he went to the police to report the incident.
Searching the residence of the couple Bam and Nguyen, the police discovered and seized 0.2 grams of drugs and drug paraphernalia.
During the investigation, Bam confessed that AT often cried and was disobedient, so he tortured him to both scare him and entertain himself. Meanwhile, Nguyen confessed that he enjoyed watching Bam torture AT, so he recorded a clip and sent it to his friends for entertainment.
Regarding the above amount of crystal meth, Bam confessed to buying it from a subject (unknown origin) on Bui Vien street for personal use; Nguyen did not know that Bam was hiding the drugs.
The indictment also determined that, regarding the 4 clips recording the scene of Bam giving AT suspected drugs, due to the long time it happened, the drugs were not seized, and AT's test results were negative, there was not enough basis to prosecute Bam for the act of "Enticing others to illegally use drugs".
During the interrogation in court today, the two defendants confessed that on the evening of April 15, 2022, they used drugs with Ms. Le Thi Be. After Ms. Be left, Bam gave drugs to AT and said, "Hey, it's your turn, smoke it." Then, AT held the straw, inhaled and blew out smoke. Defendant Nguyen also recorded a video and asked, "Is smoking drugs OK?"
According to the panel of judges, this behavior shows signs of the crime of “Enticing others to use drugs”. However, the indictment has not considered this behavior of the defendant as a sign of omission of a crime.
According to the panel of judges, the defendants’ statements during the investigation and at trial were consistent with the video footage in the case file. From there, there was sufficient evidence to prove that defendant Bam provided drugs and locations for defendant Nguyen to use, and this behavior showed signs of the crime of “Organizing illegal use of drugs.”
Therefore, after consultation, the panel decided to return the case file and request further investigation.
