Sentence upheld for group of young men who killed and caused trouble at a wedding

Recently, at the People's Court of Nghe An province, the Hanoi High People's Court opened a criminal appeal trial to try Thai Khac Duong (25 years old), residing in Tien Thanh commune (Yen Thanh district) for the crime of "Murder", Tran Van Tan (21 years old), Le Van Dan (21 years old), both residing in Tien Thanh commune, for the crime of "Disturbing public order".

Before that, at around 8:00 p.m. on December 6, 2018, Tran Van Tan and 4 friends went to a wedding in the commune. Here, Tan's group met Nguyen Khac N. (born in 1995) and Le Van Dan. Because before that, Dan went out with his girlfriend and was stopped and beaten by Tan's group, so when he met the person who beat him, Dan told N. the story. After that, Dan and N. went out the door to block the way and waited for Tan's group to come out to talk.

Defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu

Knowing that Dan and N. were waiting outside, Tan called Thai Khac Duong, fearing revenge. Tan texted Duong to report that he was being beaten at the wedding and asked Duong to bring his "goods" to deal with it. Upon receiving the text, Duong brought a sword and a sharp knife to the wedding venue. When he got close to the wedding area, Duong hid the weapons on the side of the road and went inside to meet Tan. Seeing Duong coming, Tan's group went outside.

When the group reached the motorbike parking area, N. stopped them and a fight broke out. N. took out the knife he had hidden on his person. Seeing this, Duong and Tan ran away in two directions. At this time, N. chased Tan with the knife. After about 30 minutes, N. lost track of Tan and returned to the wedding.

Thai Khac Duong was still angry because he was being chased, so he went to find the hidden weapon and returned to the wedding to meet N. to settle the matter. At this time, both subjects rushed at each other with knives. Duong avoided and swung the knife at N.'s abdomen. Seeing N. injured, Duong ran away. The victim died of a punctured heart and respiratory failure. After that, Thai Khac Duong turned himself in to the police.

The first instance trial held by the People's Court of Nghe An province in May 2019 sentenced Thai Khac Duong to 17 years in prison for "Murder", Tran Van Tan to 15 months in prison; Le Van Dan to 12 months in prison for "Disturbing public order". Disagreeing with the above sentence, the 3 defendants filed an appeal for a lighter sentence. Tan and Dan asked for a suspended sentence. Meanwhile, the victim also filed an appeal requesting an increased sentence, claiming that the court had overlooked the crime.

At the appeal hearing, the defendant Duong gave the reason for requesting a reduced sentence, saying that he did not intend to kill anyone but only used a weapon to threaten them after receiving a call for help from his juniors. The defendant was young and committed the crime for the first time, so he asked the court to consider a lenient sentence. After the incident, the defendant compensated the victim's family 200 million VND. The two defendants Tan and Dan asked for a suspended sentence because they committed less serious crimes.

However, the panel of judges determined that the murder of defendant Thai Khac Duong and the public disorder of defendants Tan and Dan were violations of the law. The court of first instance applied aggravating and mitigating circumstances to each defendant. Therefore, the court rejected the appeals of the defendants. Sentenced Thai Khac Duong to 17 years in prison for “Murder”, Tran Van Tan to 15 months in prison; and Le Van Dan to 12 months in prison for “Disturbing public disorder”.