Vietnamese woman gets death sentence for poisoning 4 family members with cyanide
The People’s Court in Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam on Thursday sentenced 39-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong Bich to death for murdering her husband, two relative members, and attempting to kill a fourth by poisoning them with cyanide, in a case that shocked the public for its cruelty and premeditation.
The court ruled that Bich’s crimes were exceptionally cruel, premeditated, and beyond rehabilitation.
The judges handed down the death penalty for murder and an additional 15-year prison term for illegal possession of toxic substances, with the overall sentence consolidated as death.
According to police reports, Bich lived with her 40-year-old husband Nguyen Thoai Thanh The, their two children, her father, and her older brother’s family in Phuoc An Commune.
The extended family made a living by selling cooked meals.
In 2022, Bich purchased cyanide online after her husband fell into serious debt.
Instead of using the poison on herself as initially claimed, she secretly stored it in the bathroom of her bedroom.
Over time, conflicts with family members deepened.
Bich developed resentment and gradually formed a plan to use the poison to take revenge on her relatives.
According to the verdict, Bich carried out four poisonings inside her own family over a prolonged period.
Three victims died, including her husband and two children related by blood. A fourth victim, her 19-year-old nephew, survived after emergency treatment.
Judges said Bich poisoned her husband by emptying his regular medication capsules and refilling them with cyanide. He later died after ingesting the tainted pills.
She then poisoned two children of her siblings, including eight-year-old N.K.D. and 13-year-old N.H.N., by dissolving cyanide in their drinking water.
Both children died shortly after showing severe symptoms consistent with cyanide poisoning.
In June 2024, Bich carried out another attempt on her 19-year-old nephew, identified as N.H.B.T., using the same method of inserting cyanide into a capsule.
The young man survived only because he was rushed to the hospital in time for emergency treatment.
Investigators later recovered 784 grams of potassium cyanide hidden in a plastic container at a local cemetery, based on Bich’s confession.
During the trial, Bich admitted her actions and said she felt remorse but claimed she had “lost control. »
However, the court rejected any mitigating arguments, emphasizing that the victims included children and close blood relatives.
“The defendant’s acts were cold-blooded, inhumane, and showed no possibility of rehabilitation,” the presiding judge said during sentencing.
“Permanent removal from society is necessary.”
By Minh Duy & Ha Mi – Tuoi Tre News – November 27, 2025