The pain of children seeing their mother in trouble with the law

(Baonghean.vn) - The mother was escorted to the car, the two children burst into tears and ran to hug their mother. The three of them clung to each other tightly, sobbing. I saw in the eyes of the police officers on duty a sense of confusion and awkwardness, in that sacred moment of motherly love, they could not bear to separate.

The two children, the older one 17 years old, the younger one 13 years old, both wore black shirts to attend the trial of their mother's illegal behavior. The older sister was calmer, her eyes filled with tears but still tried to follow the instructions of the enforcement officer to pay the court fees to her mother. The younger brother sobbed all day long, so tired that he sat down outside the courtroom hallway, leaned his head against the wall, and sobbed.

The son of defendant Vi Thi Nhung threw himself into his mother's arms and cried. Photo: Phuong Thao

The mother of the two children is the defendant Vi Thi Nhung (born in 1982, residing in Kim Khe village, Chau Kim commune, Que Phong district), who was charged with "illegally trafficking drugs". Even more bitterly, Nhung took her two children from Que Phong to Quynh Luu and let them witness their mother being caught red-handed by the police trafficking drugs.

KO choked up as she recounted, "That morning was May 7th, my mother told me to take my sister and I to Quynh Luu to get our teeth checked. When we got there, she left us at the clinic and left. A while later, the police came to take us to the police station, and then we found out that my mother was arrested for drug trafficking."

That was a haunting morning for the two KO sisters and 5 months later, that image repeated itself, like a knife cutting into the innocent souls of the two children.

The trial did not last long, just over an hour. All of Vi Thi Nhung's crimes were clear, and Nhung had nothing to deny. Nhung stated that on May 5, she went to a H'Mong village to buy a heroin cake for 50 million VND. Nhung gave her 25 million VND in advance and promised to pay the rest after selling it.

On May 6, someone in Quynh Luu agreed to buy it back for 70 million VND. Nhung happily left the next day, bringing both children along to "conveniently" get a dental check-up. Unexpectedly, all of Nhung's movements were under the surveillance of the reconnaissance soldiers. Nhung was arrested with 350.31 grams of heroin still in the package.

Since then, Nhung has been in prison, and her two children are in a pitiful situation. They eat at their grandmother's house, and at night the two sisters return to the small shack and hug each other and cry. The house is cold and lonely, with only the two children leaning on each other. Lacking affection, they feel inferior to the discrimination of the world.

"Where is your dad?" I asked.

''I only know that my father is working in Laos, but I don't know where, and I don't have a phone number to contact him. Before, my father went to work in the South. When my mother was arrested, he came home to visit for a few days and then went back to Laos...'', KO said, tears streaming down his face. KO said that if only his father were here now, the two of them would not be so lonely.

Bringing the two sisters to the court with both their maternal and paternal grandmothers probably still cannot make up for the great loss and pain they are suffering.

For Nhung's actions, the court sentenced her to 20 years in prison. Hearing the verdict, KO's eyes closed tightly, his hands trembling. His grandmother stood next to him, quickly holding his hand, massaging it to warm it up. 20 long years, how would the two sisters continue to live, at the age of adolescence, needing the love and guidance of their mother. Then, unable to bear it any longer, KO sat down, hugging his younger brother who was exhausted from crying.

The court ended the trial, the two sisters forgot all their fear, ran to hug their mother, one hugged her legs, the other her neck. That scene made no one hold back their emotions. The police officers encouraged the two children and then escorted their mother to the car to the detention center. They cried and ran after their mother, calling her hoarsely...

Phuong Thao