Man who murdered his parents in a hallucination was sentenced to death

The verdict of the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City determined that the defendant confessed honestly, repented, and had limited behavior and awareness at the time of committing the crime; the victim's representative asked for a lighter sentence. However, the defendant committed the crime.Killingwith aggravating circumstances of "killing two people", "killing parents"; causing particularly serious consequences, so the most severe sentence should be applied.

Before that, when given the last word, Ho stated that he knew his crime was very serious, was very remorseful, and asked the court for the opportunity to go home to burn incense for his parents.

Ho lived with his parents in District 6. Late on August 1, 2021, he saw his mother, Mrs. Pham, sleeping on a mattress near the door and stabbed her repeatedly. Mr. Vo (Hoc's father) ran to stop him but was stabbed dozens of times by him, dying on the spot.

Mrs. Pham struggled to get up, opened the door and ran outside to call for help. Tiger chased after her and stabbed her many more times. He went back into the house to kill his sister, but she managed to escape and shouted for help.

Authorities and local people then subdued and arrested Ho. Ms. Pham was taken to the emergency room but did not survive.

Test results confirmed that Ho was positive for drugs. During the investigation, Ho Chi Minh City Police conducted a psychiatric assessment of Ho and determined that before, during and after committing the crime, he suffered from psychosis due to using many types of drugs, losing the ability to perceive and control his behavior.

During the trial, Ho confessed to using drugs since he was 16 years old. The incident occurred during the Covid-19 outbreak, the entire city was under lockdown and drugs could not be purchased, so the defendant showed unusual behavior. On the day of the incident, his mother bought him medicine to drink, but after drinking it, he had hallucinations, "there was always a voice in his head urging him to kill his mother because she gave him poison".