According to the indictment, To Thi Ty Na, 45, residing in Thang Binh commune, had a previous conviction for property theft. In 2020, after her husband passed away, she lacked a stable job and income, so she sold her house for 1.2 billion VND.

When her money ran out, the defendant conceived a plan to purchase life insurance for her children with the intention of illicitly profiting. Ty Na purchased a total of 7 insurance policies for her four children, costing over 100 million VND annually. Na was named as the beneficiary on all policies. Among them, Hoang, 5, had two policies purchased from Generali Life Insurance Company and FWD Life Insurance Company.

On the evening of 2/1/2023, at her home, Ty Na adjusted the camera angle away, then instructed Hoang to enter the bathroom before killing him. After the victim died, the defendant staged the scene to appear as if he had drowned in a bucket.

Ty Na filed fraudulent claims, stating Hoang died due to an accident, to receive over 4.1 billion VND in insurance money from the two companies, which she then used for personal expenses.

Defendant To Thi Ty Na. *Photo: Huynh Chi*

Investigators determined that at the time of the incident, the house had only one entrance/exit, and only Ty Na was present with Hoang. Based on the dimensions of the water bucket (63 cm high) compared to the victim's height (124 cm) and weight (23 kg), along with injuries caused by external force, authorities confirmed the victim could not have self-inflicted the drowning.

Previously, the victim's relatives discovered unusual camera tampering and reported it to the police. In 2021, another of her children also died in a bathroom bucket, and the defendant received over 2 billion VND in insurance money.

During the trial, defendant Ty Na denied killing her child for insurance profit, claiming the policies were for "health protection". She explained that she did not recall details and attributed the child's injuries to incidents at school.

The trial panel concluded that despite the defendant's denial, based on investigation documents, records, and evidence presented in court, there was sufficient basis to convict her of murder and insurance fraud.

Da Nang City People's Court sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment for murder and 6 years in prison for insurance fraud, with the combined sentence being life imprisonment. The defendant is responsible for returning all embezzled funds to the two insurance companies.

Ngoc Truong