VietNamNet Bridge – Management of people with mental illness has become a problem as murders caused by mentally ill people have occurred recently.

Nguyen Van Doanh.

The latest incident happened on September 1. The victim is teacher Bui Thi Them, 46, a resident of Bao Ha commune, Vinh Bao district, Hai Phong city.

At about 7am, when Them was on her way to her school, suddenly Nguyen Van Doanh, 41, a mentally ill man, blocked the road and used a knife to stab the teacher to death.

Earlier, Vu Van Dan, a man with signs of mental illness in Gia Lai province, chased his wife, children and neighbors to kill them at noon of August 23.

According to Nguyen Thi Lan, Dan’s wife and her two children were at home, then suddenly Dan appeared with a knife and chased after Lan and the kids to stab them. Frightened, Lan hugged the smaller kid to run away. Lan’s two fingers were stabbed by Dan.

Nguyen Thi Lien, a neighbor, came to help Lan with her baby. She was stabbed to death on the spot.

Then Dan ran to the home of a neighbor named Dinh Van Van and stabbed him. He kept running to the house of another neighbor named Le Thi Thom, who is Dan’s sister-in-law.

On the way, Dan saw a neighbor named Minh and his younger brother Tuyen and stabbed these people.

When he entered Thom’s house, Thom and his two children were in the bedroom. Dan stabbed them, causing Thom and her 9-year-old daughter to fall down.

After that, Dan went to the coffee fields.

Vu Van Dan.

Among those who were stabbed, four people died, including Lien, Van, Thom and her daughter.

According to Dan’s family members, the man showed symptoms of mental illness. Before the massacre, Dan complained of severe headaches and showed unusual manifestations. Doctors wrote a prescription for him and asked the family to carefully monitor him.

In July 2015, a 26-year-old mother named Dieu Thi Chanh, in Binh Phuoc Province, killed her two children and threw the bodies into a well. Chanh was also identified as mentally ill.

Nguyen Ngoc Quang, Director of the Centre for Psychiatric Forensic of HCMC, the risk from the mentally ill is a fact as many still live with their families.

Quang said these people can become dangerous to people around them. However, when they are not in a fit of rage, their behavior is fine.

Colonel Pham Quang Thien, chief police of Vinh Bao district, Hai Phong City, said it was very difficult for the police to make an intervention if the families hide the mentally ill relatives.

Related to the death of teacher Bui Thi Them on September 1, Thien said the local police agency had not received any reports about abnormal behavior of Doanh.