The defendants (from left to right) are Doan Quy Phien, Nguyen Bich Quy, and Nguyen Thi Thuy at the court.

Six-year-old Le Hoang L. from Gateway International School died after being left on a school bus for more than 12 hours in August last year.

Nguyen Bich Quy, 56, the school’s bus monitor, faces 20-24 months in prison for charges of “involuntary manslaughter” under article 128 of the 2015 Penal Code and Doan Quy Phien, 54, the school bus driver, faces 15-18 months in jail for the same charge.

A prison term of 12-15 months was sought for Nguyen Thi Thuy, 30, the teacher in charge of the boy’s class, for a charge of “lacking responsibility, causing serious consequences” under article 360 of the 2015 Penal Code.

The indictment said negligence of all three defendants was to blame for the boy’s death.

The indictment concluded that Quy and Phien failed to check the bus after the students alighted, meaning the boy was left in the vehicle for nearly nine hours. Thuy, who was aware the student was missing from class, did not report his absence. The actions of the defendants resulted in the boy’s death. The autopsy showed that the boy died of thermal shock and respiratory failure.

According to the indictment, Phien drove the 16-seat school bus to pick up Quy at 6am on August 6. The two then went to pick up 13 students for school, including Le Hoang L. – the victim. The six-year-old boy was picked up at Trung Yên Plaza Building.

At 7.22am on the same day, the bus arrived at the Gateway International School in Cau Giay District. Phien remained on the bus while Quy helped students get off. However, at that time, there were two students, who were twins, crying, so Quy had to guide both children off the bus. All students were led off the bus, however L. remained on board as he was sleeping. Quy closed the doors without checking for any other students.

After the door was closed, Phien drove and parked the bus at the dormitory of the nearby Academy of Journalism and Communication. He left the bus and closed the door without checking for any students on board.

After taking the students to school, Quy went to the office to sign off on her job for the morning.

At 3.30pm, Phien returned to the parking lot and drove the bus back to school. When Quy opened the doors of the bus to let students on, Quy found the young boy unconscious on the floor behind the driver's seat.

Medical staff from the school took the boy to hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him.

At 4pm the same day, the boy’s family received news that their child had not been present in class. Later, the family was informed the child had been found inside the school bus, and then was told he had died. — VNS

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