A Vietnam court opened Monday the hearing for a doctor who threw the body of a woman who died post-surgery at his salon into a river last year, but delayed it and returned relevant documents to the investigation agency for clarification of some professional issues.  

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The Hanoi People’s Court started trialing Dr. Nguyen Manh Tuong, 41, the owner of Cat Tuong Beauty Salon in Hanoi, and Dao Quang Khanh, 18, a security guard at the salon at about 8:00 am today.

Before the trial, the capital’s police completed their investigation into the case in which Tuong and Khanh admitted to dumping the body of Le Thi Thanh Huyen into the Hong (Red) River in October last year.

The woman died at 39 in the salon at about 5:45 pm on October 19, 2013 after she underwent a botched cosmetic surgery conducted by Tuong and his nurses.

As Huyen’s body remains unfound, police have put an end to their investigation and proposed that Tuong be convicted for two charges, namely “breaching regulations on medical examination and treatment, drug production, preparations, supply and sale or other medical services” and “interfering with human corpses, graves, and/or remains.”

Meanwhile, Khanh, who aided Tuong in dumping the woman’s body into the river and stole an iPhone 5 from the victim, should be charged with “interfering with human corpses, graves, and/or remains” and “stealing property,” the police suggested.

For such charges, Tuong and Khanh are facing penalties of ten years and eight years in prison, respectively.

Inconsistency

However, at this morning’s hearing, after questioning Dr. Tuong and a witness, nurse Nguyen Ngoc Thu, the jury decided to halt the trial for further medical consultation.

The nurse told the court that the operation on Huyen took place for about two hours, while Tuong affirmed that the period was four hours, from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm on October 19, 2013, when Huyen arrived at the salon for an abdominal liposuction and breast lift surgery.

Tuong said that Huyen was conscious and could talk during the operation and that 25-30 minutes after she was taken to a post-surgery room, she went into convulsions.

Thinking that Huyen fell into an epileptic state, Tuong ordered a nurse to give the woman a tranquillizer and her condition later got back to normal, he told the court.

“I observed her condition and saw it was normal, so I went out to Quan Su pagoda,” Tuong said.  

Meanwhile, nurse Thu confirmed to the court that as usual it would take four hours to perform such a surgery, but in the case of Huyen, the operation on her lasted for only two hours because she developed a fit of convulsion.

Due to the inconsistency in the testimonies of Tuong and Thu, the court decided to halt the hearing for 15 minutes for the jury to discuss.

After the interval, the jury decided to suspend the trial and return the case file to the investigation agency for clarification by experts of some professional issues that could not be settled at the court.

Indictment

According to the indictment, Huyen who lived in Hoan Kiem District came to the beauty salon at 45 Giai Phong Street in Hai Ba Trung District on the morning of October 19. She underwent an aesthetic operation performed by Dr. Tuong from 12:00 pm until 4:00 pm. Thirty minutes after the surgery, Huyen had difficulty breathing and began foaming at the mouth. Dr. Tuong gave her an injection and she appeared to recover. But at 5:45 pm, Tuyen’s body suddenly turned blue and her blood pressure could not be measured. Tuong put her on a respirator and gave her a cardiotonic but could not save the woman.

Later, Tuong, with the help of some of his employees, put Huyen’s body into his car and drove it to Buu Dien (Post) hospital in the same district, with the intention to leave the corpse in the morgue there.

He was followed by Khanh, who carried Huyen’s handbag and rode her Honda Lead scooter.

When they reached that hospital, they found many people at the entrance of the facility.

To avoid being noticed, Tuong did not drive the car to the front of the hospital but stopped it outside, on the street.

At that time, Khanh suggested that they should dump the body into the Hong River, instead of bringing it into the hospital and Tuong agreed to his suggestion.

Tuong’s wife, Nguyen Thi Hang, arrived after she was notified of the incident and Khanh then drove her on the motorbike, following Tuong’s car towards the river.

When they reached Co Linh Street, Khanh signaled to Tuong to stop his car. Khanh then left Huyen’s handbag and bike on the side of the road and he and Hang got in the car.

While inside the car, Hang advised her husband not to throw the body into the river, but Tuong did not take her advice.

He continued to drive to National Highway 5 towards the Thanh Tri Bridge, where he and Khanh took Huyen’s body out of the vehicle and threw it into the river.

The indictment also concluded that Khanh had stolen an iPhone 5 from Huyen’s handbag.

Based on Tuong’s testimonies to investigators, Huyen’s family and competent agencies have spent a lot of time and effort searching for the body.

However, the body has not been found.

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