Woman sentenced to death for killing fiance’s daughter

Nguyen Vo Quynh Trang was sentenced to death Friday for causing the death of an 8-year-old girl, her fiance’s daughter, last December.

Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court stated that Trang’s behavior was too cruel, inhumane, thus she “should be removed from life forever.”

On the evening of December 22, 2021, Vinmec Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City received an 8-year-old girl in circulatory arrest, with many bruises. She had actually died before being brought to the hospital by her biological father.

On December 23, the investigative police of Binh Thanh district determined that Nguyen Vo Quynh Trang, 26, had shown signs of violence against the girl leading to her death. The fiance of the girl’s father was arrested immediately.

On December 31, authorities arrested the baby’s father, Nguyen Kim Trung Thai, to investigate signs of accomplice.

Thai was sentenced to three years in prison for tormenting his daughter and five years in prison for concealing crimes. His combined penalty is eight years in prison.

The Representative of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Vietnam, Rana Flowers, last December expressed her sorrow and deep concern over the death of the girl.

On the organisation’s website, she said: “Sadly, the majority of abuse is perpetrated by someone known and trusted by the child. Shrouded in silence, alone. The rising accounts of abuse of children, even greater during Covid lockdowns, signal an urgent need for a strengthened approach.”

Van An is the biological child of Nguyen Kim Trung Thai and Nguyen Thi Hanh. In August 2020, Thai and Hanh divorced; Thai was entitled to raise his daughter.

In September 2020, Nguyen Vo Quynh Trang came to live with Thai and Van An in an apartment in Binh Thanh district, HCMC. Living together, Trang repeatedly used her hands, feet, a wooden stick, and the vacuum cleaner’s hose to brutally torture her fiance’s daughter.

Thai saw Trang beating his daughter many times but did not prevent it. He even used a wooden stick to beat the baby together with Trang.

On December 22, Thai went to work and Van An stayed at home with Trang. Trang used a wooden stick to hit the girl hard repeatedly. When the girl fell to the floor because of injuries, Trang continued to hit her hard.

At 3 p.m., on camera Thai saw Trang hitting Van Anh, so he called to tell Trang not to hit her anymore, but Trang continued. At 6 p.m., the girl lost consciousness.

Thai then came home from work, and together with Trang, took Van An to hospital, but she had died earlier due to acute pulmonary edema and traumatic shock.

While doctors were giving emergency treatment to the girl, Thai logged into the camera on his phone and erased all data.