Determination the offence “of an incestuous nature” in accordane with the Criminal Code of Vietnam and realted judgments

Hello Ms. Ha, for your question, LawNet would like to answer as following:

Waht is incest? 

Pursuant to Article 184 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam, incest is prescribed as following:

"Any person who engages in sexual intercourse with another person in the knowledge that he/she is in a consanguineous relationship, a sibling or half-sibling shall face a penalty of 01 - 05 years' imprisonment."

Thus, it can be understood that incest is the act of sexual intercourse with a sibling of the same parents, a half-sibling or with a person of the same direct bloodline. In which, pursuant to Clause 17 Article 3 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 of Vietnam, "people of the same direct blood line are those in the consanguineous relationship in which a person gives birth to another in a successive order."

Determination the offence “of an incestuous nature”

Determination the offence “of an incestuous nature” is prescribed in Clause 1 Article 4 of the Resolution No. 06/2019/NQ-HĐTP issued by the Judge Council of the People’s Supreme Court of Vietnam guiding the application of a number of regulations of Articles 141, 142,143,144,145, 146 and 147 of the Criminal Code of Vietnam and settlement of cases of sexual exploitation and abuse of persons under 18 as following:

"Article 4. Penalty determination circumstances

1. The offence is “of an incestuous nature” in Point e Clause 2 Article 141, Point a Clause 2 Article 142, Point d Clause 2 Article 143 and Point a Clause 2 Article 144 of the Criminal Code means the offence is committed against: 

a) a person related to the offender by consanguinity, blood sibling or half-sibling; or

b) the offender’s aunt, uncle, niece or nephew; or

c) the offender’s adopted child or adoptive parent; or

d) the offender’s step-child or step-parent; or

dd) the offender’s daughter-in-law, son-in-law or parent-in-law."

Some judgments of sexual abuse have incest circumstances

1. Judgment No. 172/2021/HS-ST on raping people under 16 years of age

- Trial level: Instance trial.

- Judicial authority: People's Court of Hai Phong City.

- An extract from the judgment: Since 2008, Nguyen Van A has been married and living with Ms. Do Thi V and her daughter, Do Thi Thanh C, born on May 24, 2005. In the process of living together, A and V take care of and raise C, now the two have one more child in common, Nguyen Quang E, born in 2009. Around 6:30 pm on May 17, 2021, A knew that C was taking a shower on the 2nd floor, A observed that the door of the room only closed but did not lock, so he had an intention to sexually abuse C. A opened the door to enter, approached C, and used hands to grope C' s chest, forced her to lie on her back on the bathroom floor, then used his mouth to kiss C's chest, used his left hand to hold her neck while his right hand touching her vulva, then insert the middle finger of his right hand into C's vagina to sexual intercourse. C struggled, shouted "Viet, save me", then A put his hand over C's mouth, then lifted C's armpit to get her to stand up and said, "stand up, I just want to take a look, no need to struggle"."

- Settlement result: Nguyen Van A was sentenced to a 18 years' imprisonment for the crime of "Raping people under 16 years of age".

2. Judgment No. 139/2017/HSST dated December 28, 2017 on raping children

- Trial level: Instance trial.

- Judicial authority: People's Court of Nghe An Province.

- An extract from the judgment: “Just because of his lowly lust and not being able to control himself, the defendant committed a crime. The defendant commits an offense of an incestuous nature against his biological child. Therefore, it is necessary to impose a sentence commensurate with the defendant's offense to have the effect of educating the accused and generally preventing in society."

- Settlement result: Hoang Van Th was sentenced to a 13 years' imprisonment.

3. Judgment No. 10/2020/HSST-CTN dated September 17, 2020 on raping people under 16 years of age

- Trial level: Instance trial.

- Judicial authority: People's Court of Tay Ninh Province.

- An extract from the judgment: “Tran Van M and Ms. Huynh Kim P have been living together as husband and wife since 2016 (marriage registration on April 22, 2019) and have their own house in G1, ward G2, T town, Tay Ninh province. Living with M and Ms. P has Ms. P's own daugher, Huynh Tuyet N, born on June 10, 2008. During the time of living together, taking advantage of N's unknowledge, M performed sexual acts with N 05 times."

- Settlement result: Tran Van M was sentenced to a 18 years' imprisonment for the crime of "Raping people under 16 years of age".

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