Mum in Vietnam, 45, fatally drowns son, 5, in bucket to claim over S$192,000 in insurance, gets life sentence

A 45-year-old woman in Vietnam has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering her five-year-old son to claim more than 4.1 billion dong (S$192,550) in life insurance payouts.

According to local news outlet Vietnam News (VNS), To Thị Ty Na staged her son's death as an accidental drowning.

She was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and six years' jail for insurance fraud after being convicted on both charges.

Under Vietnamese law, the combined sentence amounts to life imprisonment.

Boy found dead in a bucket at home

According to the indictment cited by VNS, police received a report on Jan. 3, 2023, that Na's son, who was born in 2017, had been found dead in a bucket in the bathroom of the family's home the previous night.

However, the boy’s paternal aunt, Nguyen Thị Bich Tam, reported her suspicions to the authorities on the same day.

Tam said she had reviewed the home's security camera footage and found that Na had deliberately repositioned one of the cameras before the incident.

She also told investigators that another of Na's children had died after drowning in a bathroom bucket in 2021, after which Na received more than 2 billion dong (S$97,785) in insurance compensation.

The similarities between the two deaths prompted police to open a full investigation.

Investigation contradicts drowning claim

According to VNS, following investigations, it was concluded that only Na and her son had been inside the house.

The house had a single entrance, ruling out the possibility that someone else had been involved.

Forensic evidence also contradicted the claim that the boy had accidentally drowned.

The boy, who was five years and nine months old, was 124cm tall and weighed 23kg.

However, the bucket in which he was found measured 63cm in height and 56cm in width.

There was no evidence to suggest he could have accidentally drowned in the position in which he was found, said prosecutors.

Though the child had no reported injuries before the incident, a post-mortem examination later found multiple bruises on his forehead, groin and leg, suggesting he had struggled against an external force before dying.

The court heard that Na had turned the security camera towards a wall before calling her son into the bathroom, where she forced his head into a bucket until he drowned..

She then staged the scene to resemble an accident before changing her clothes, drying her hands and hair with a hairdryer, opening the front door and pretending to be asleep in bed.

The boy was found dead shortly after 10pm when his older sister returned home.

Had purchased insurance policies for four children

Court documents showed that Na had previously served a 40-month prison sentence for theft before returning home, where she later married and raised four children, VNS reported.

Na later experienced financial difficulties following her husband's death in 2020,

Prosecutors said she had sold the family home for 1.2 billion dong (S$58,681) to cover living expenses, but later exhausted the money.

She subsequently bought seven life insurance policies covering her four children, paying annual premiums of more than 100 million dong (S$4,890), and named herself as the beneficiary of all the policies.

Her youngest son was covered under two separate policies with different insurers.

After his death, Na falsely claimed he had accidentally drowned, allowing her to collect more than 4.1 billion dong (S$192,550) in insurance payouts, which prosecutors said she spent on personal expenses.

During the trial, the boy's teacher also testified that he had been healthy and had shown no signs of injury before his death.

In her final statement to the court, Na denied the charges and asked to be allowed to return to her family.

The court ultimately found that prosecutors had proven beyond reasonable doubt that Na murdered her son to obtain the insurance payouts, and sentenced her to life imprisonment.