Nguyen Vo Quynh Trang withdrew her appeal and accepted the death sentence.

Defendant Trang in court last November

On April 24, T30 Chi Hoa Prison announced that the appeal to reduce the sentence of Nguyen Vo Quynh Trang, 27 years old, for murder and torture of others is being transferred to the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City.

Trang's decision was made a few days before the appeal hearing (April 28). The defendant's lawyer and the prison have not yet announced the reason for withdrawing the appeal. Meanwhile, the appellate court said that the prison had notified Trang of her withdrawal of the appeal, and the document "will take 2-3 days to receive."

Previously, in mid-December 2022, after being sentenced to death by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court, Trang appealed for a reduction in her sentence on the grounds that the sentence was "too severe" compared to her crime.

According to regulations, if the defendant withdraws the appeal, the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City will suspend the appeal trial, upholding the original judgment against Trang. The panel of judges will consider the appeal of the lawyer defending Van An's family - requesting to overturn the original judgment, investigating Nguyen Kim Trung Thai (Van An's father) for murder as Trang's accomplice.

According to the lawyer, the sentence of 8 years in prison imposed by the court on Thai for the two crimes of Torturing others and Concealing a crime is too light, does not reflect the strictness of the law and is not consistent with the nature of Thai's cruel behavior. The defendant is the biological father, directly taking care of Van An, but together with Trang abused his daughter for a long time, causing many injuries on her body.

In this appeal hearing, the court will summon 5 witnesses including: a maid, a neighbor, an apartment security guard... and two forensic experts from the Criminal Techniques Department of Ho Chi Minh City Police to participate in the trial.

The first instance verdict determined that since September 2020, after the divorce, Thai raised Van An and lived as husband and wife with Trang at the Sai Gon Pearl apartment building (Binh Thanh district). Because Thai's parents did not agree to the marriage, and Thai did not want to have more children, Trang was always jealous and angry. Since October 2021, while Thai was assigned to take care of Van An (who was studying online at home), Trang repeatedly beat her lover's stepchild.

From December 7 to 22, 2021, Trang continuously used a rattan cane and a wooden stick to beat An. Once, she did not let An wear clothes, forced her to kneel, and raised her arms high for her to beat; locked her in a dog cage or forced her to kneel to study for many hours. From the night of December 10, 2021 until after 2:00 a.m. the next morning, Trang and Thai took turns to torture and beat her in her vital areas. On December 21, 2021, from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Trang continuously beat An with a wooden stick, kicked her... causing the victim to lose consciousness and then die.

The first instance court determined that Trang's actions were too cruel to her dependents, inhumane, committed for despicable motives, of a hooligan nature, and committed against children... so the defendant was sentenced to death for murder; 3 years in prison for torturing others; the total sentence is death.

According to VnExpress