Going abroad and then colluding to trick and sell girls

Child trafficking

In recent times, human trafficking crimes in Nghe An have been complicated. The methods and tricks of this criminal group are mainly to take advantage of acquaintances or intermediaries to approach victims. They use seductive words, promise to find high-paying jobs, openly bargain, and entice victims to marry abroad to have a leisurely life and at the same time have money to help their families. From there, a number of victims, mostly from mountainous areas, due to difficult circumstances and lack of knowledge, have agreed to go abroad, many of whom were tricked and sold at a very young age.

Two victims in the caseChild traffickingThe case that the People's Court of Nghe An province just tried on December 16 is one of them. The defendant in the case is Luong Thi Tam (born in 1988), residing in Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son district. Tam is the one who brought two mountain girls to China for her father-in-law to sell.

Defendant Luong Thi Tam. Photo: Tran Vu

On the day of the trial, the defendant's two sons, 15 and 13 years old, also accompanied their relatives to the court. Tam kept crying because it had been a long time since she had seen her children. The female defendant repeatedly explained her miserable life that led to her crime. Tam said she got married early to a man named Len Van Uyen from the same village. However, the marriage was not warm and happy. Conflicts in daily life often caused the couple to quarrel. In a fit of anger, Tam crossed the border to China alone.

In a foreign country, Tam married a new Chinese man. Some time later, around April 2012, Tam received a phone call from her husband in Vietnam asking if he would sell women to China for marriage. Tam agreed, so Len Van Uyen began looking for girls to take to the other side of the border.

About a month later, Uyen informed her wife that she had found two girls and asked Tam to return to the country to pick them up. At this time, Tam asked for permission from her father-in-law in China to return to Vietnam to bring the girls over. To avoid being detected by the authorities, Tam agreed with Uyen to pick them up in Vinh City. Once they agreed on a plan, Tam took a bus back to Vietnam.

At Vinh Bus Station, Tam and his wife picked up their two children Cut Thi L. (born in 1997) and Lo Thi M. (born in 1998) brought by Lo Van Cho (residing in Ta Ca commune, an acquaintance of Uyen). The reason the two young girls followed Cho to Vinh City was because they believed this person's invitation to go to China to work for a company with an attractive salary. After that, Tam alone took the two girls across the border to China.

In a foreign country, Tam’s father-in-law sold the two girls to two Chinese men for 210 million VND and 245 million VND. In this case, Tam received 210 million VND and a phone. Tam said he sent half of the money to Uyen.

As for the victims, after 1 year of being a foreign wife, M. fled back to Vietnam. As for L., after giving birth to 2 children, in November 2018, she asked her husband to return to Vietnam to visit her family. On May 10, 2022, after learning that Tam returned to Vietnam, the two victims filed a complaint with the police. Based on the victims' complaints, the police arrested Luong Thi Tam. The investigation agency determined that at the time of sale, Cut Thi M. was only 14 years, 1 month, and 20 days old, Cut Thi L. was 14 years, 9 months, and 27 days old, so Luong Thi Tam was prosecuted for the crime of Child Trafficking.

The price to pay

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment. Tam stated that when he returned to Vietnam to pick up the victims, he did not know the ages of the two victims. Only when they went to China and stayed at his house for a week, did Tam ask and learn that the two girls were just over 14 years old. Although he knew they were too young, because he “accidentally brought them over,” he still let his father-in-law sell them.

The defendant presented her difficult circumstances, her husband had passed away, and her two children were currently living with her elderly grandparents, asking the court to consider reducing her sentence. Photo: Tran Vu

Justifying her act of selling children, Tam said that because she was an ethnic minority and had limited awareness, she broke the law. Later, the female defendant also explained that she "just thought that bringing them here to marry would give them a better life, because life in the countryside is miserable."

With the presence of a number of people in court, the Trial Panel reminded and analyzed the defendant's illegal behavior in taking girls abroad to get married. The defendant's behavior trampled on the dignity and took away the youth of the victims. Not only did it violate human rights, seriously affecting the health, spirit, and life of the victims, but it also had a negative impact on morality, race, lifestyle, and customs, directly affecting the security and order of the country. Hearing the court's analysis, defendant Tam bowed his head, showing remorse. The defendant presented his difficult circumstances, his husband had passed away, and his two children were currently living with his elderly grandparents, asking the court to consider reducing his sentence.

Sitting in court watching their mother’s trial, the two children’s faces showed clear sadness. Relatives said that after their mother moved to China, the two brothers lived with their father and grandparents. But a few years later, their father passed away due to illness. With their father gone and their mother in a foreign land, the two brothers could only rely on their grandparents. Unfortunately, their grandparents were also old and weak, so the two brothers had to take care of each other.

It is known that the defendant's eldest son is currently in 10th grade at a high school in Ky Son district. Relatives said that he is a good student but they are worried that his studies will be affected by his mother's imprisonment. The defendant's eldest son confided that his relatives have always encouraged him to study. Every weekend when he returns home, his uncle and aunt support him with food to take him to the boarding school. He will try to teach his younger brother to study hard so that his mother can rest assured while he is being rehabilitated.

The jury determined that the defendant's act of buying and selling children was a violation of the law and should be strictly punished. However, it is also necessary to consider mitigating circumstances for the defendant, such as his honest confession, repentance, surrender, the defendant's active compensation to the victims, and the victims' petitions for a reduced sentence. In addition, the defendant is an ethnic minority, his family is poor, and his legal awareness is limited, so the sentence should be reduced. Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced the defendant Luong Thi Tam to 7 years in prison for the crime of Buying and Selling Children. The defendant Len Van Uyen is now deceased. As for Lo Van Cho, who is not present in the locality, the investigation agency will continue to clarify and handle the case later when it is verified.

Tam turned to look at her children in court. Photo: Tran Vu

Hearing the sentence, she turned her head to look at the female defendant’s children, who were crying continuously. Tears of pity for the children who had lost their father and now had to be away from their mother, and tears of remorse for their wrongdoings… However, it was all too late, those tears could hardly erase the painful and humiliating memories of the victims who were sold into marriage when they were just over 14 years old. I only hope that this is a lesson for Tam, and also a lesson for those who still intend to make money at any cost, including trafficking in children, sooner or later will have to pay a heavy price.