Suspected of letting criminals escape in bedding factory fire that killed 3 mothers and children

The verdict was issued by the Hanoi People's Court on December 5, during the appeal hearing to consider the victims' appeal.

The first instance verdict dated September 27 of the Thanh Oai District People's Court stated that in August 2022, Nguyen Trong Chuc and his wife hired defendant Tran Quang Thoa (27 years old) to construct a mezzanine floor, iron stairs and build corrugated iron walls for a warehouse storing blankets, sheets, pillows, mattresses, mats, etc. The salary was VND 500,000/person/day.

Thoa then called Tran Van Huong (25 years old) and Ta Truong Giang (22 years old) to work with her. All 3 were determined to not have a practice certificate.

On the afternoon of September 10, 2022, when construction began, defendant Thoa assigned herself to climb onto the roof of the warehouse to pump in leak-proof glue. Defendant Huong used an iron cutter and a metal welder to weld, cut, and grind iron bars, shoot corrugated iron walls, and weld doors and walls on the mezzanine floor. Giang assisted Huong.

At about 4:30 p.m., a fire broke out at the top mattress of a pile of mattresses near the mezzanine staircase area where Huong and Giang worked.

Huong and Giang dragged the burning mattress to put out the fire but were unsuccessful. The three welders and the older sister ran outside to call for help.

The fire quickly spread to the 3-story house of Mr. Chuc's family, to the warehouse of the food company run by Ms. Nguyen Thi Cung, Mr. Chuc's sister, and to part of the warehouse producing blankets, sheets, pillows, and mattresses of another company.

At 6:30 p.m., the fire was extinguished, but Mr. Chuc's wife and two children (4 and 5 years old) died from severe burns.

The investigation agency determined that the cause of the fire was "welding spatter during the welding and cutting process". The court of first instance sentenced the two welders, Thoa and Huong, to 8 years and 6 months in prison and 9 years in prison, respectively, for violating fire prevention and fighting regulations.

The two defendants must jointly compensate Mr. Chuc's family more than 2.6 billion VND (property, funeral expenses, mental damage) and more than 650 million VND for the two neighboring companies. Of which, compensation for Ms. Cung is 242 million VND; for the company producing blankets, sheets, pillows, and mattresses is 411 million VND.

The court of first instance determined that Giang was only an assistant for Huong and Thoa and did not directly perform the welding or cutting, so it did not consider criminal prosecution against him.

At today's appeal hearing, Ms. Cung, the victim and representative of her brother, said that the property damage was very large but the valuation of more than 240 million VND was not satisfactory.

According to her, the total damaged assets of her, her brother and the company next door were about 8 billion VND. "The court of first instance only awarded nearly 3 billion VND in compensation, less than half of which is too little," she said.

"The death of my sister-in-law and two grandchildren is an irreparable loss. My brother and I only hope to receive adequate compensation to pay off our debts after going bankrupt," she said.

She believes that Giang was directly involved in welding with Thoa and Huong, received equal wages, but was not held accountable, which is unreasonable.

The Court of Appeal acknowledged her opinion and also stated that the valuation agency had not fully considered the damages of the case. The Court also found it necessary to clarify Giang’s role and responsibility to avoid letting criminals escape.

Assessing the issues that could not be clarified in court, the Trial Panel announced the cancellation of the first instance judgment and returned the case for re-investigation.