A 45-year-old woman in Da Nang was sentenced to life imprisonment on August 6 after a court found her guilty of murdering her five-year-old son by drowning him in a bathroom bucket and staging the scene as an accident to fraudulently claim more than 4.1 billion dong in life insurance payouts.
Trial and Verdict in Da Nang
A court in the central city of Da Nang delivered a life sentence to a 45-year-old woman convicted of murdering her young son and executing a fraudulent insurance scheme (according to regional reporting). The Danang People’s Court found To Thi Ty Na, a resident of Thang Binh Commune, guilty on both charges.
Judges sentenced Na to life imprisonment for murder and an additional six years in prison for insurance business fraud, which combined into a life sentence under Vietnamese law. Prosecutors established that the defendant engineered the boy’s death to collect payouts from multiple policies she had purchased for her children.
Uncovering the Deception Through Family Suspicion
The case came to light after authorities received an initial report on January 3, 2023, stating that Na’s five-year-old son, born in 2017 and identified in court documents as N.V.H., had been found dead in a bathroom bucket the previous night (the prosecution detailed in its indictment). The boy’s paternal aunt, Nguyen Thi Bich Tam, immediately filed a report with police expressing deep suspicion regarding the circumstances of his death.
Tam told investigators she reviewed the home’s security camera footage and discovered that Na had deliberately redirected one of the cameras toward a wall before the incident (the evidentiary record shows). The aunt also recalled that another of Na’s children had died in similar circumstances in 2021 after drowning in a bathroom bucket, following which Na received more than 2 billion dong in insurance compensation.
Forensic Evidence and the Crime Scene Setup
Investigators established that only Na and her young son were inside the house before, during, and after the child died, with the residence featuring only one entrance to rule out outsiders. Forensic examinations dismantled the claim of an accidental drowning.
The victim stood 124 cm tall and weighed 23 kg at five years and nearly nine months of age, whereas the bucket where he was discovered measured only 63 cm high and 56 cm wide. Prosecutors noted that the child could not have accidentally drowned in the position in which he was found. Post-mortem examinations revealed multiple bruises and marks on his forehead, groin, and leg, indicating he struggled against external force.
According to the court, Na forced her son’s head into the bucket until he drowned, then staged the scene, changed her clothes, dried her hands and hair with a hairdryer, and went to bed pretending to be asleep until his older sister returned home.
Financial Motive and Multiple Insurance Policies
Court records revealed a history of financial distress following the death of Na’s husband in 2020. Having previously served a 40-month prison sentence for theft, Na sold the family home for 1.2 billion dong to cover living expenses (court findings state). Once those funds were exhausted, she purchased seven life insurance policies covering her four children, paying annual premiums exceeding 100 million dong while naming herself as the beneficiary.
Her youngest son alone was covered by two separate life insurance contracts with different companies, including Generali and FWD (corporate records reflect). Following the boy’s death, Na collected more than 4.1 billion dong from the insurers and spent the entirety of the funds on personal expenses.
Denials and Ongoing Investigations
Throughout the legal proceedings, the defendant denied the accusations against her.
Lâu quá bị cáo không
To Thi Ty Na, Defendant
In her final statement, she asked the judges to allow her to return to her family (trial transcripts confirm). The court rejected her defense, citing conclusive forensic findings and camera evidence.
Authorities have taken additional steps regarding the broader pattern of child fatalities tied to the family. Prosecutors confirmed that the investigation into the 2021 death of Na’s other child has been separated into an independent case file for continued review.
