8-year-old girl abused to death: Father not prosecuted for 'murder'
The conclusion of the supplementary investigation into the case of an 8-year-old girl who was abused to death maintained the view that the father should be prosecuted for “torturing others” and “concealing a crime”.
According to information from the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department, the unit has just completed the supplementary investigation conclusion of the case of a girl named NTVA (8 years old, residing in District 1, temporarily residing in Binh Thanh District) who was abused to death and transferred the case file to the People's Procuracy at the same level to propose prosecuting two related suspects.
Accordingly, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department continues to propose prosecuting defendant Nguyen Vo Quynh Trang (26 years old, from Gia Lai) for the crimes of "murder" and "torturing others".
The police maintain their position of proposing to prosecute Nguyen Kim Trung Thai (36 years old, biological father of baby VA) for the crimes of "torturing others" and "concealing criminals".
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| Defendant Nguyen Kim Trung Thai (the biological father of baby VA) was proposed to be prosecuted for "Child abuse" and "concealing a crime". Photo: Truong Thanh Tung |
Previously, at the first instance trial in mid-July, the Family and Juvenile Court of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court decided to return the case file for further investigation.
Because the lawyers defending the victim requested the panel of judges to determine the injury rate of VA on December 7, 10, and 12, 2021, in order to consider handling the defendants for the act of "intentionally causing injury". In addition, the lawyers requested the panel of judges to consider and determine that Thai was an accomplice to the crime of "murder" with the defendant Trang.
The lawyers also proposed changing the jurisdiction to criminal court.
After consultation, the panel of judges assessed that transferring jurisdiction to the criminal court was incorrect, because the victim in the case was an 8-year-old child, a victim of violence, and was under the jurisdiction of the Family and Juvenile Court.
However, the panel of judges determined that the injury assessment of the victim on December 7-10 and December 12, 2021 had not been carried out. The lawyer's requests were legitimate.
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| Defendant Nguyen Vo Quynh Trang. Photo: Truong Thanh Tung |
Whether the defendant Thai is an accomplice to the crime of “murder” or not needs to be reinvestigated. Therefore, the panel of judges decided to return the case file for further investigation.
It is known that during the additional investigation process, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department has carefully conducted each step according to legal regulations.
The Ho Chi Minh City Police Department conducted additional investigation and assessed the percentage of physical injury of VA with injuries caused on December 7-10, 12, 2021 according to the content of Circular No. 22/2019/TT-BYT dated August 28, 2019 of the Ministry of Health, on regulations on the percentage of physical injury used in forensic examination and forensic psychiatric examination.
However, on August 26, the Institute of Criminal Science - Ministry of Public Security in Ho Chi Minh City responded, refusing to conduct an injury assessment of the victim VA on December 7, 10 and 12, 2021, on the grounds that the victim VA's medical records at Vinmec Hospital (Binh Thanh District) did not show the injuries caused on the above-mentioned days.
According to the investigation results, after divorcing his wife, Mr. Thai raised baby VA. When Mr. Thai and Trang lived together as husband and wife in a rented apartment in the luxury apartment building Saigon Pearl, Binh Thanh district, baby VA lived with them. Mr. Thai entrusted Trang to raise and teach the child.
Security camera evidence and statements determined that from December 7, 2021 to December 22, 2021, Trang used her hands, feet, wooden sticks, and metal rods to beat and torture VA. Sometimes Trang tortured A while she was naked, kneeling, and raising her hands. Trang also forced VA to kneel in a dog cage.
On December 22, 2021, while Thai went to work and Trang stayed home to teach VA, this "stepmother" brutally tortured her lover's stepchild for many hours.
Specifically, in the morning, while tutoring VA, Trang cursed but did not beat him. At noon, Trang also cooked pho for VA and gave him juice and milk to drink.
But from 2:51 p.m. to 6:06 p.m., Trang brutally tortured VA with a round piece of wood, 2.2 cm in diameter and 90 cm long, hitting VA repeatedly on the back, buttocks, forehead and head. Trang also kicked the child's stomach, chest, private parts and legs.
Trang used rope to tie VA’s hands and feet, forcing her to kneel while studying and drinking water. Trang used her hands to slap her lover’s child in the face and hit her head. At one point, VA sat down in her chair to study, Trang swung her leg and kicked her to the floor, causing her to struggle.
When VA had difficulty breathing and was exhausted, Trang helped him to bed. When Trang pulled VA up, he started vomiting and started to lose consciousness. Trang called Thai to handle the situation and took VA to the hospital, but he died.
In this case, the investigation agency also determined that Nguyen Kim Trung Thai witnessed Trang beating and torturing VA many times but did not intervene. There were several times when Thai and Trang beat and torturing VA.
On December 22, 2022, when he learned that his lover had abused his child and had to be taken to the hospital, while standing in front of the emergency room, not knowing whether his child was alive or dead, Thai logged into the camera management application on his phone and deleted all data from the 4 cameras in the apartment, in order to hide Trang's actions.
