On October 26, the High People's Court in Hanoi opened an appeal hearing to consider the appeal for sentence reduction of defendant Mai Xuan Thai (41 years old, residing in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi ) for the crime of Murder.
Defendant Mai Xuan Thai at trial.
In the first instance trial held in June 2023, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced defendant Mai Xuan Thai to death and ordered him to pay VND600 million in compensation to raise the victim's child. The victim was Ms. Nguyen Thi Q. (defendant's ex-girlfriend).
At the appeal hearing today, October 26, Mai Xuan Thai confessed honestly, repented, and influenced his family to compensate the victim's family for damages. In addition, the defendant's defense attorney presented the Trial Panel with new information that the victim's family had filed a petition to reduce the defendant's sentence from death to life imprisonment.
After deliberation, based on the relevant circumstances as well as developments at the trial, the appellate panel accepted the appeal and reduced the sentence for defendant Mai Xuan Thai from death penalty to life imprisonment for the crime of murder.
The first instance verdict stated that at the end of November 2021, Thai met Ms. Nguyen Thi Q. while attending a yoga class in Hai Ba Trung District (Hanoi). After that, Thai and Ms. Q. had a romantic relationship.
At the end of June 2022, the two had a conflict and Ms. Q. wanted to end her relationship with Thai to return to her family, but the defendant did not want to. Thai had the idea of meeting Ms. Q. to win back their relationship, if she refused, he would kill his girlfriend and then commit suicide.
At noon on August 11, 2022, Thai went to Ms. Q's workplace in Hoan Kiem District (Hanoi City) with the intention of following the victim to a yoga class. When he saw Ms. Q leaving her workplace, the defendant immediately followed her.
Arriving at the yoga studio, Thai opened the trunk of his car, took out a sharp knife, and sat in front of the studio door waiting for his lover.
At around 1:20 p.m. the same day, Ms. Q. left the gym to go to work in the direction of Hue Street - Hang Bai (Hoan Kiem District). Thai drove his motorbike parallel to Ms. Q.'s vehicle. When they arrived at house number 17, Hang Bai Street (Hang Bai Ward), Thai drove his motorbike ahead, blocking Ms. Q.'s vehicle and the two got into an argument.
Here, Thai used a prepared knife to stab the victim to death and then stabbed himself in the stomach to commit suicide. After that, Thai threw the weapon on the street, approached the place where Ms. Q. had died, and hugged the victim. Thai was then taken to the emergency room by the people in time and was able to save his life.
(Source: Lao Dong Newspaper)
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