The tragedy of the woman who was robbed and dragged down

In a small house in Binh Tan district, on the first day of May, Mrs. Tam, leaning on wooden crutches, trembling, groped to learn to walk step by step. Occasionally, she rubs the left side of her head, where her skull has been transplanted with titanium plates, to ease the pain. One side of her face was concave due to the sequelae of a broken jaw.

More than a year ago, she was full of life with her husband and two young children. But after her bag was snatched, in an accident, she lost more than 15 kg, aged ten years.

Around 7:00 am on March 30, 2021, Ms. Tam rode a motorbike to take her nearly two-year-old son to the kindergarten and then went to the company 2 km away to work. She wore a small handbag on her hip, inside there was a phone, identification papers and a few tens of thousands of dong, then put on a coat over it.

According to the indictment, after taking her child to class, Ms. Tam ran to an intersection near Aeon mall Binh Tan, Binh Tri Dong B ward, and was suddenly startled by Pham The Quang, 22 years old, riding a motorbike from behind. strong handbag. The robber did not get the bag, but pulled Tam to fall and hit her head on the road.

“I just had time to scream for an hour and then fainted,” said Tam.

She was taken to the hospital by the locals. Due to a severe traumatic brain injury, she was in a coma for a week, the doctors said the prognosis was poor. “When I woke up with my head shaved and bandaged, I didn’t remember what happened until my husband told me,” Tam said.

A month after the first surgery to remove the damaged part of the skull, she fell over a cliff when she saw that the left side of her head was as deep as a cup. The results of the examination said that she was 89% injured. “Missing my son after a long stay in the hospital, I made a video call to talk, once again shocked when he said ‘this is not your mother’,” she said.

Diep Huu Vi (41 years old, her husband Tam) said that since his wife had an accident, he had to quit his job to take care of his two young children and sent them back to his hometown to be raised by his grandmother. The most difficult time was last July, when Covid-19 broke out in Saigon, Ms. Tam had just undergone a second brain surgery when unfortunately tested positive. Because she had not been vaccinated, she was very sick and her health deteriorated. “For four days in a row, she had a high fever of over 40 degrees Celsius with convulsions. At that time, I thought my wife could not survive,” Mr. Vi said.

After the surgery to install the skull with titanium plate, on March 30, after a year in the hospital, Ms. Tam was able to go home and began to practice rehabilitation. Every day, Mr. Vi still drives his wife to the hospital for advocacy and treatment; At noon, take her home to prepare food and water before returning to the company. Every time he passes by a restaurant, at work or at his child’s school, he reminds his wife of the past so that his wife can remember the past.

According to Mr. Vi, the amount of money for Tam’s treatment has reached hundreds of millions of dong, but Pham The Quang’s family has only compensated 45 million. “My husband and I work as workers with low income. Since the day my wife had an accident, our family life became miserable. I had to borrow money everywhere to have money for her treatment,” he said.

On May 5, Pham The Quang was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City Property robbery. The verdict determined, Quang snatched Ms. Tam’s bag while on the way from the hotel (where he gathered to play drugs with friends) home in District 8. He was arrested after a week of the crime.

“The day of the trial, I attended. Unexpectedly, the person who caused the accident for me was too young. He had to pay the price with 18 years of youth, and I was injured for life. If only the incident on that day had not happened. out …”, Tam’s voice was sad.

Dinh Van