VIETNAMESE WOMAN ESCAPES GALLOWS
Doan pleads guilty to reduced charge; she will be freed next month
THE Vietnamese woman accused of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s estranged half-brother, Kim Chol or Kim Jong-nam, escaped the gallows yesterday after she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.
Doan Thi Huong, 31, was instead sentenced to three years and four months jail for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means.
Judge Datuk Azmi Ariffin ordered Doan to serve the sentence from the date of her arrest, which was Feb 15, 2017.
Doan will walk free by the first week of next month after receiving one-third remission for good behaviour.
Her lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh
Teik, said she would continue serving her sentence at Kajang Prison for another month or so.
Azmi said Doan, the youngest of five siblings, was lucky because the prosecution offered her an alternative charge that provided an imprisonment of up to 10 years.
He said the initial charge of murder carried the mandatory death sentence.
“I previously ruled that there is a prima facie case and ordered you to enter your defence.
“I honestly think you should be grateful to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and the public prosecutor for offering you the alternative charge,” he said.
Azmi said he took into consideration the defence’s arguments that the accused had pleaded
guilty immediately after the alternative charge was offered and that she was a first-time offender.
He acknowledged that Doan was remorseful and had no criminal record in the country.
Before ending the session, he asked Doan on what she planned to do.
“You’re going back to your country to be with your family?” Azmi asked.
Doan, who was standing in the dock, spoke in Vietnamese and thanked the judge, lawyers and everybody involved in the trial. It was translated by the court interpreter.
She also responded with a “yes” to Azmi’s question and thanked him.
Earlier during mitigation, Hisyam said it was his client’s first offence in the country and that she regretted it.
“She has been in prison since her detention on Feb 15, 2017. My client is also not responsible for what happened on that day of the incident,” he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Iskandar Ahmad urged the court to take into account the seriousness of the offence as it happened at KL International Airport 2, a public place.
He said the court should also take into account public interest.
Doan was charged with four others at large with voluntarily causing hurt to Jong-nam by smearing the VX nerve agent on his face at the departure hall of klia2 at 9am on Feb 13, 2017.