Nguyễn Bích Quy (left) and Doãn Quý Phiến at the court. — Photo laodong.vn

HÀ NỘI ­— A Hà Nội court has decided to adjourn an appeal hearing regarding the death of a first-grader in a school bus due to the absence of some key participants.

The Hà Nội People’s Court on Monday opened the hearing of three people accused of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Lê Hoàng Long, a student of the Gateway International School.

Due to the absence of the student’s parents, some witnesses and other participants that were summoned by the court, the court panel decided to postpone the appeal trial.

Earlier, two lawyers for Nguyễn Bích Quy, the school monitor bus, filed a request for the trial to be cancelled and Quy also proposed to postpone the trial so that lawyers would be involved.

Representatives of the Hà Nội People's Procuracy said that lawyers and witnesses were very important in the case. Therefore, to ensure the objectivity and interests of the parties, the Procuracy requests the Panel to postpone the trial.

The time for reopening this trial will be announced by the court later.

At the first instance court held in January this year, Quy and Doãn Quý Phiến, the bus driver, were sentenced to 15 months in jail on charges of “involuntary manslaughter”.

Nguyễn Thị Thủy, Long’s teacher, got a one-year jail sentence on a charge of “lacking responsibility causing serious consequences”.

The indictment stated that negligence of the three defendants was to blame for the boy’s death.

According to the indictment, Phiến drove the 16-seat school bus to pick up Quy at 6am on August 6. The two then went to pick up 13 students for school, including Long – the victim. The six-year-old boy was picked up at Trung Yên Plaza Building.

At 7.22am on the same day, the bus arrived at the Gateway International School in Cầu Giấy District. Phiến remained on the bus while Quy helped students get off. However, at that time, there were two students, who were twins, crying, so Quy had to guide both children off the bus. All students were led off the bus, however Long remained on board as he was sleeping. Quy closed the doors without checking for any other students

After the door was closed, Phiến drove and parked the bus at the dormitory of the nearby Academy of Journalism and Communication. He left the bus and closed the door without checking for any students on board.

After taking the students to school, Quy went to the office to sign off on her job for the morning.

At 3.30pm, Phiến returned to the parking lot and drove the bus back to school. When Quy opened the doors of the bus to let students on, Quy found the young boy unconscious on the floor behind the driver's seat.

Medical staff from the school took the boy to hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him. At 4pm on the same day, the boy’s family received news that their child had not been present in class. Later, the family was informed the child had been found inside the school bus and he had died. — VNS