Jail terms for couple who abused adopted daughter
QUANG NGAI — A couple in the central province of Quang Ngai have received prison sentences for abusing their 10-year-old adopted daughter in a ruling handed down on Thursday by the People's Court of Nghia Hanh District.
Nguyen Mui, 59, was sentenced to two years in prison and Doan Thi Hong Yen, 50, to one year.
According to testimony, the couple, who live in Hanh Trung commune, were arrested on February 10 after brutally beating their adopted daughter, Nguyen Thuc Phi, for allegedly stealing their money. Only when local police were called to the scene twice did the couple agree to take the girl to Quang Ngai General Hospital.
Phi was found to have bruises on her face, swollen eyes and lips, and a broken tooth. She was reportedly in an abnormal psychological state and fearful of strangers. Doctors found many scars on her body.
In court, Mui confessed that he removed the girl's clothes, confined her in a chicken coop, roped her with an iron chain and beat her with electric wire whenever she misbehaved.
The police seized sticks and iron chains from the couple's house and offered them in evidence.
The couple has raised Nguyen Thuc Phi since she was two years old, although another couple in the province's Binh Son District cared for the girl during a five-year period before returning her in 2010. She has suffered from brutal abuse since that time, the court found. — VNS