Seven-year prison sentence upheld for thug who slashed friend with sword at foot of Cua Nam overpass
Although they have been friends for many years, due to a small disagreement, Pham Anh Tuan (Vinh City) used a weapon to slash his friend, causing the victim to suffer 42% disability. Pham Anh Tuan was prosecuted by the authorities for the crime of "Intentionally causing injury".
On August 20, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened an appeal hearing for defendant Pham Anh Tuan (born 1982), residing in Le Loi ward, Vinh city (Nghe An) for the crime of "Intentionally causing injury".
According to the case file: At about 1:30 p.m. on September 12, 2023, Pham Anh Tuan and Nguyen Manh H. (born in 1982); residing in Cua Nam ward (Vinh city) sat drinking water at the foot of Cua Nam overpass (Vinh city). When H. reminded them of some things, a conflict arose between the two sides. After being stopped by everyone, H. went home.
A while later, Tuan received a phone call from Mr. H. saying that he wanted to meet to "clear things up". Hearing that, Tuan went home, got a sword about 1.2m long, and drove to find Mr. H.
When he saw Mr. H. standing at the foot of the Cua Nam overpass, Tuan approached and swung his sword, but Mr. H. dodged and ran away.
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After running a distance, seeing Mr. H. fall due to losing balance, Tuan took the sword and slashed the victim 5 times. Suddenly being slashed, H. picked up 2 bricks and threw them at Tuan.
At that time, seeing many people trying to stop him, Tuan left and went to the local lake to throw the sword down and then left. The victim was taken to the emergency room by local people immediately after. According to the medical examination, the victim suffered a 42% disability.
At about 3:30 p.m. on September 15, 2023, Pham Anh Tuan went to the authorities to surrender. It is known that the defendant had been imprisoned 4 times for crimes related to illegal possession and trafficking of drugs.
On April 16, 2024, the Vinh City People's Court opened the first instance trial of the case. Based on the entire case, Pham Anh Tuan was sentenced to 7 years in prison for "Intentionally causing injury". However, the victim's family said that prosecuting the defendant for the crime of "Intentionally causing injury" was incorrect, so they filed an appeal against the trial of the defendant for the crime of "Murder".
At the appeal hearing, the representative of the Procuracy stated that based on the injuries and the expert conclusion, the injuries did not cause fatal consequences, so there was no basis to change the defendant's charges, and maintained the same opinion of not accepting the victim's appeal.
The jury determined that the defendant used the sword to slash but did not slash at any specific location and did not initially intend to take the victim’s life. After the victim threw rocks and people tried to stop him, the defendant stopped and left.
The above acts do not constitute the crime of “Murder”. For the above reasons, the Panel of Judges decided not to accept the victim’s appeal and to maintain the same sentence as the first instance verdict.
