Wake Forest man charged with stabbing and killing wife cries out in court with family
In his first appearance in court, Xuan Thanh Pham looked wistfully toward three family members who sobbed loudly as he first entered the courtroom on Monday afternoon.
Pham, 63, was charged Sunday with murder in his wife’s stabbing on Sept. 5.
He walked slowly, seemingly in pain, into the courtroom on Monday, following his release from the hospital with serious stabbing injuries.
Nearly two weeks after the double stabbing in Wake Forest, Pham, 63, was arrested by the Wake County Sheriff’s Office.
Pham is being held without bond at the Wake County Detention Center and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison or the death penalty.
After speaking to the judge through a Vietnamese interpreter by phone call, he glanced behind him toward three women sitting closest to the bailiffs.
The women, visibly crying, exchanged dialogue with him in Vietnamese, and Pham responded briefly, sobbing.
He cried, and even wailed loudly at one moment, lifting his hands to the ceiling and then covering his face with his hands, before being escorted out of the courtroom.
The women left moments afterward with their attorney, crying.
Wake Forest double stabbing
Hue Thi Lu’o’ng, 58 was stabbed to death in her home 8800 block of Ligon Mill Road in Wake Forest.
Pham and Lu’o’ng were married and the stabbing was identified as being related to domestic violence.
At the time, Pham was identified by Sheriff’s Office as the second victim in the stabbing.
He was taken to the hospital with “life-threatening injuries.”
