VietNamNet Bridge - The People’s Court of Ca Mau province on June 29 sentenced a couple to jail for 23 years each for torturing a 14-year-old boy.

Officials under scrutiny in Ca Mau child abuse case

Thousands of people stood outside the court to follow the trial on June 29.

Huynh Thanh Giang, 30, and his wife, Ma Ngoc Thom, 33, the owners of a shrimp breeding farm in Ca Mau province, got 20 years for intentionally causing physical injury to Nguyen Hao Anh and another three years for torturing him.

Hao Anh worked for Giang and Thom for some 20 months and was abused since early last year. However, residents did not learn of the couple’s abusive acts until late April 2010 and reported it to police. The boy was immediately hospitalized.

Area residents claimed that Giang and Thom took turns torturing Hao Anh 3-4 times a day, but they didn’t dare alarm authorities until they found Hao Anh beaten more severely than usual.

Giang was taken into custody when the case was exposed, while his wife Ma Ngoc Thom was left temporarily free since her child is under two years old.

The victim, Hao Anh, and his mother at the court.

The couple confessed to regularly abusing the boy, who had worked as a housekeeper and caretaker of the couple’s shrimp farm until he was rescued by police in late April 2010.

They hit the boy with hammers and oars, poured hot water on him, burned him with a hot iron, strangled him with rope, and pulled his teeth out with pliers.

Anh was found with broken teeth, burns, a broken nose, and a swollen face as a result of constant beatings and torture by Giang and Thom.

Luu Van Khanh, 17, and Lam Ly Quynh, 18, who worked with Anh at the farm and also joined the couple in beating the boy, were sentenced to 18 months in jail.

The four defendants: Huynh Thanh Giang (first from the left) and his wife, Ma Ngoc Thom (yellow).

When the case was exposed, the details of torture shocked and angered the public and raised questions about authorities under whom the abuse remained undetected for such a long time.

Provincial authorities issued a warning to Pham Duc Ly, Ngoc Chanh Commune Chair, which manages Phu Hiep Hamlet, and Nguyen Thanh Binh, head of the commune police, for failing to detect the abuse. Truong Anh Ut, head of the hamlet, and Ly Thai Trieu, head of the hamlet’s police, also received similar warnings.

PV