Tô Thị Ty Na, 45, at the trial on August 5. — Photo thanhnien.vn

ĐÀ NẴNG — A court in the central city of Đà Nẵng on Thursday sentenced a 45-year-old woman to life imprisonment for murdering her five-year-old son and fraudulently claiming more than VNĐ4.1 billion (around US$150,000) in life insurance payouts after staging the death as an accidental drowning.

The Đà Nẵng People's Court found Tô Thị Ty Na, from Thăng Bình Commune, guilty of murder and insurance business fraud. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and six years in prison for insurance fraud, which combined into a life sentence under Vietnamese law.

According to the indictment, police initially received a report on January 3, 2023, that Na's son, identified as N.V.H., born in 2017, had been found dead in a bathroom bucket at the family's home the previous night.

However the boy's paternal aunt, Nguyễn Thị Bích Tâm, reported her suspicions to authorities the same day.

Tâm told investigators she had reviewed the home's security camera footage and discovered that Na had deliberately redirected one of the cameras before the incident. Tâm also recalled that another of Na's children had died in similar circumstances in 2021 after drowning in a bucket in the bathroom, following which Na received more than VNĐ2 billion in insurance compensation.

The similarities between the two deaths prompted police to launch a full investigation.

Investigators concluded that only Na and her son were inside the house before, during and after the child's death. The house had a single entrance, ruling out the involvement of outsiders.

Forensic evidence also cast doubt on the claim of accidental drowning.

The victim, aged five years and nearly nine months, was 124cm tall and weighed 23 kilograms, while the bucket in which he was found was only 63cm high and 56cm wide.

Prosecutors said there was no evidence that the child could have accidentally drowned in the position in which he was discovered.

Although the boy had no injuries before the incident, the post-mortem examination found multiple bruises and marks on his forehead, groin and leg, indicating he had struggled against external force before his death.

The court heard that Na intentionally turned the security camera towards a wall before calling her son into the bathroom and forcing his head into the bucket until he drowned.

She then staged the scene to resemble an accident, changed her clothes, opened the front door, dried her hands and hair with a hairdryer and went to bed pretending to be asleep. The boy was discovered dead shortly after 10 p.m. when his older sister returned home.

Insurance policies purchased for four children

Court documents showed that Na had previously served a 40-month prison sentence for theft before returning home, marrying and raising four children.

After her husband died in 2020, she struggled financially. Prosecutors said she had sold the family home for VNĐ1.2 billion to cover living expenses and later exhausted the proceeds.

Na subsequently purchased seven life insurance policies covering her four children, paying annual premiums exceeding VNĐ100 million ($3,800). She named herself as the beneficiary of all policies.

Her youngest son alone was covered by two separate life insurance contracts with different insurers.

Following his death, Na falsely declared that he had accidentally drowned, enabling her to claim insurance benefits.

Based on the fraudulent documentation, the two insurance companies paid her more than VNĐ4.1 billion, all of which prosecutors said was spent on personal expenses.

During the trial, Tâm reiterated that the altered camera angle had first raised her suspicions, while the child's teacher testified that the boy had been healthy and showed no signs of injury before his death.

In her final statement before the court, Na continued to deny the charges and asked the judges to allow her to return to her family.

After reviewing the evidence and arguments presented during the trial, the court ruled that prosecutors had proved beyond doubt that Na murdered her son in order to obtain insurance money, and handed the woman a life sentence. — VNS