In a drunken stupor… - Quang Binh Electronic Newspaper

(QBĐT) - The defendant and the victim were cousins, and they often visited each other, sometimes drinking, sometimes drinking tea. Although they were so close, no one expected that after that drinking session, one would die, the other would survive. And now, the perpetrator must appear in court for murder.

The defendant was a poor old farmer, with a haggard appearance and more than half of his hair was already white. The crime had happened nearly 6 months earlier, but on the day of the trial, it seemed as if this 65-year-old man had not yet recovered from his drunkenness that day. How could he ever recover from the haunting memory of that drinking party, since it was the very thing that had pushed him down this path?

Standing before the Trial Panel, he stated that he did not remember what happened that day. At the time of the incident, he had drunk too much alcohol. The drinking session lasted for several hours, from 9am to 1pm. He had almost lost consciousness, his nerves were no longer normal and he could no longer control himself. He also did not remember what prompted him to go into the house to get a knife, and then use that knife to slash the victim, who was also his relative. At that time, he only knew that he had slashed the victim with those deadly knives, but he could not remember how many times he had slashed and where he had slashed...

As he spoke, he “naively” held out his two hands, as if they were not his. He explained that while struggling and using the knife to stab the victim, he himself had been injured. The wound still had a scar. Sitting in the detention camp, the wound still throbbed from time to time, making him feel cold all over. He also said that for a long time, drinking and getting drunk had been normal for him. Because there were times when he was drunk, but by inertia, as he said, he was still able to drive home. Only a couple of times, he was too drunk, fell off his bike, and people had to take him to the hospital for emergency treatment. This time, he couldn’t remember, didn’t know why he acted like that.

Realizing the contradiction in the defendant's testimony, most members of the jury that day participated in the questioning. But the defendant's answer was always the same, it was just because he drank too much alcohol and could not control himself.

Illustration : Minh Quy.

The judge asked, the defendant confessed that because he drank too much alcohol, he could not remember anything, but after slashing the victim to death, the defendant was still healthy and conscious enough to drag the victim to the corner of the buffalo pen in the garden, then went into the house to take a shower, change clothes, and wash off the blood in the middle of the yard?

After a moment of silence, the defendant stated that he really did not remember anything, probably due to inertia. Before that, the defendant and the victim had no conflicts. Because we were brothers, when we met, we often had a few drinks. That day, the defendant was home alone when he saw the victim passing by his house on his way to find buffalo. With the half-finished drinking mat, the defendant invited the victim in for a drink. As the alcohol flowed, words came out, and in the middle of the drinking session, he remembered the incident where his acacia garden had burned down earlier, so he blamed the victim for burning the acacia garden a few days ago and not putting out the fire, allowing the fire to spread to his garden, causing the acacia garden to die. On the contrary, the victim did not admit to that. That was all that happened during the drinking session. But the words were exchanged, the argument became more and more intense. And then what had to happen happened.

The defendant confessed: “At that time, the defendant thought that the defendant and the victim were cousins, and that they had had a few glasses of wine, so it was easy to talk, so he spoke out to clearly distinguish right from wrong. The defendant also had no evidence that the fire in his cajuput garden was related to the victim.”

The judge continued to ask, after committing the crime, did the defendant call his child to inform him of the incident and say that he was responsible for his actions, then went to the police station to surrender?

The defendant replied: “I know my crime, that’s why I turned myself in.” In response to the defendant’s testimony, the victim’s family requested the panel of judges to give the defendant a severe punishment. The trial was adjourned so the panel of judges could deliberate. Faced with the strong reaction of the victim’s family, the police officers executing the sentence had to take the defendant to a separate waiting room to avoid unnecessary frustration.

Only when the jury announced the sentence of 19 years in prison for "Murder", he seemed to suddenly wake up from his drunken stupor, turned around and apologized to the victim's family, in response to their harsh reactions.

The trial ended, he trudged out to the prison van, and as he passed by the victim's portrait, he lowered his head and tried to walk as fast as he could. It seemed that he was not only trying to avoid the person in the photo, but also avoiding the gaze and cries of the victim's relatives.

Le Thy

(*) The character's name in the article has been changed.

Source: https://www.baoquangbinh.vn/phap-luat/202504/trong-con-say-2225445/