A Vietnamese singer has been indicted for “involuntary manslaughter” after asphyxiating a 20-year-old girl with garlic cloves while experiencing a ketamine-induced hallucination, a charge which did not sit well with the victim’s family.

Police in Hanoi put forth the indictment on Tuesday, following an investigation into the unusual murder of T.M.H., born 1998 in the capital.

Singer Chau Viet Cuong, aka Nguyen Viet Cuong, born 1978 in Thanh Hoa Province, was detained on March 5, following the discovery of H.’s body the same day.

Pham Duc The, born 1981 in Ninh Binh Province, was also indicted for the illegal possession of ketamine that caused Cuong’s hallucination.

H.’s family, however, was not pleased with the charge, pressing for actual manslaughter.

Their legal representative cited two articles in Vietnam’s criminal law, arguing taking other people’s lives under the influence is still tantamount to manslaughter.

Offenders of manslaughter may face up to 15 years in prison, while those of involuntary manslaughter will only serve five years at most, according to the law.

According to Cuong’s confessions, he, The, H., along with Doan Quy Nguyen, 25, also known as singer Nam Khang, and a girl named P.A., 23, threw a party at The’s apartment on Nguyen Van Ngoc street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi at 3:30 am on March 5.

The group all took ketamine, an illegal and strong hallucinogen, before Nguyen left for work at 5:00 am.

Cuong became hallucinated around 8:00 am, when he presumed H. was ‘possessed,’ and decided to perform ‘exorcism’ on the girl.

Buying garlic cloves from a nearby market and scattering some around the room, Cuong proceeded to hold H. down and shove 33 garlic cloves into her mouth, clogging her larynx.

Pham Duc The is being questioned at the police station. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A postmortem ruled the cause of death as asphyxiation, as one of the cloves completely blocked H.’s windpipe.

Cuong admitted to having consumed some garlic cloves himself.

The and P.A. tried to intervene but were “too ‘stoned’ to do anything.”

Three of them subsequently left the crime scene before police discovered H.’s body in the afternoon.

Cuong was still in a high when he got detained, and had to sober up before police carried out the interrogation.

The ketamine in The’s house was also confiscated by police officers.

It was estimated that the illegal substance was worth VND3 million (US$131.78), purchased by The for recreational use.

This is not the first time Cuong has faced legal troubles.

He was accused of sexually harassing a high school student in Hai Phong back in May 2012.

The victim reported Cuong had sexually harassed and threatened her when she was alone with him on February 9, 2012.

The singer denied, however, saying the act was consented and refused to call it sexual harassment because they had “met again later that day.”

The charge was ultimately dropped as police found no sufficient evidence supporting the claim and the victim’s family decided to no longer pursue legal action.

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