Vietnamese woman sentenced to death after 3 family members, including husband, died of poisoning

VIETNAM: A woman from Vietnam who had poisoned four of her family members with cyanide was given the death sentence in November. Three of the people who were poisoned died, two of whom were children. The other person who died was her husband.

A court found Nguyen Thi Hong Bich guilty of murder and of illegally possessing, transporting, and using toxic substances, for which she received a 15-year jail sentence. The combined sentence for both offences is death.

She was tried at the Dong Nai Provincial People’s Court, according to a report in Vietnamnet Global. The report added that the fourth victim of 39-year-old Bich, a teenage boy simply referred to as “T,” survived only by chance and not because of any merciful acts on Bich’s part.

All three young people whom Bich poisoned are the children of her brother and sister.

According to the prosecution, her actions toward the family members whom she poisoned were cruel and inhumane, and she carried them out in a calculated and emotionless manner. The judges in her case also said that there was no possibility for Bich’s rehabilitation.

She admitted to all the charges against her during her trial, and apologised in tears to the families of her brother and sister. Bich also asked the court for leniency as she hoped to see her daughter again.

The poisoning incidents

Bich first bought cyanide in 2022, when she was in despair and beset by growing debts. She initially intended to take her own life, although VnExpress reported that she said she needed the poison for “gold washing.”

However, because of continued arguments with different members of her family, her plans began to change.

Her first victim was her husband, referred to simply as “Mr Th.” On Jan 5, 2023, she inserted cyanide into a pill that he regularly took due to his illness. This caused his blood pressure to rise, and he began to feel numbness in his limbs. Ten months later, he died.

At that point, her family members suspected nothing.

Later that year, she began to have fights with her younger sister over money matters, which caused Bich to look for ways to take revenge.

She poisoned a drink with cyanide and gave it to “D,” the seven-year-old daughter of her sister, on Jan 1, 2024. The child died as a result.

Her next victim was “N,” the 12-year-old son of her brother. Because she was upset with her brother and sister-in-law, she gave “N” a drink that was also laced with cyanide on May 25 of the same year, which caused his death.

The following month, she tried to poison “T,” the older brother of “N,” who was 19 years old at the time. After taking the drink Bich gave him, he lost consciousness, and his family brought him to the hospital, where doctors found that he had ingested cyanide. This caused the authorities to launch an investigation, which showed that he had survived a poisoning attempt.

According to Vietnamnet Global, “T” suffered 23% bodily damage. After the family filed a police report, Bich was arrested. /TISG

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