CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A man was convicted Thursday of killing three of his girlfriend’s four children after she asked him to move out of her apartment.
Vuthy Seng of Lowell was first convicted in 1997 but won a retrial. On Thursday, a Middlesex Superior jury deliberated less than two hours before convicting him on the same charges – three counts of first-degree murder.
Sovanna Men, 9, Visal Men, 15, and Virak Men, 12, died of their wounds in the week after the gun and machete attack on Nov. 12, 1995, in their Lowell apartment.
Seng faces a mandatory life sentence for each first-degree murder conviction. He is being held without bail and will be sentenced Feb. 12.
In 2002, the state Supreme Judicial Court overturned Seng’s conviction and ordered a new trial. The court ruled that a Khmer translation of his Miranda rights, which were also delivered in English, didn’t properly inform him of his right to remain silent.
Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone Jr., who announced the verdict, credited Sathy Men for her testimony. She identified Seng as the gunman in the deaths of her three brothers. Sathy was also shot in the attack.
“I want to commend the amazing courage of the boys’ sister, Sathy, who bravely came forward to testify in both trials against the man who shot her and her bothers,” Leone said in a statement.
Sathy Men said she ultimately escaped the attack by kicking out a screen and jumping out a first-floor window.
At the first trial, Seng’s attorneys conceded he shot the children, but said he should not be held criminally responsible because he was a “destitute and broken” man who was hearing voices. Prosecutors said the murders came after Seng had a falling out with the children’s mother, Chhong Yim, and she insisted he move out despite his pleas to stay.
At the second trial, Seng’s lawyer said his client didn’t kill anyone. Attorney Larry Tipton argued that police ignored key evidence and other suspects, including gang members who in March 1995 broke into the apartment and threatened to kill anyone who reported them – which Seng did.
Seng also was convicted Thursday of armed assault with intent to murder, two counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, and one count of possession of a firearm.
