Mother confronted over missing baby allegedly 'given away'

Mother, Lyn Kim Do, 21, would rather spend six months in jail than tell authorities where her baby boy Hoang Vinh Le is.

"Will you tell authorities where Vinh is?" I asked.

"No," Lyn replied.

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"Why won't you tell them?" I asked.

"I don't want to," she said. "Is this really worth going to jail over Lyn?" I asked.

"Do you know where Vinh is?"

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"No," she said.

Vinh's maternal grandmother Kim Huong Tran has custody of him, but amid a bitter family dispute the baby boy was snatched by his father, Hoang Thanh Le.

"Thanh took Vinh from me on the 9th of April last year so it's like nine months already," Kim said.

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The last photo ever seen of Vinh was posted by Thanh in May last year, followed by a string of videos in which the parents claimed they'd rather a stranger raise their child than his own grandmother.

"I would rather Kathy to look after it … or if the child is in someone else's hands I would rather that happen," Thanh said in the video.

The parents told authorities they paid a woman named Kathy Nguyen $200 to take care of Vinh for a night, but police can't find anyone by that name.

"The last thing you told authorities, you gave him to a woman named Kathy Nguyen, is that true? Or was that a lie?" I asked.

At her sentencing hearing, Lyn provided two more names which the judge described as "fragments of information" that were "indicative of a lack of remorse" and not enough to keep her out of jail.

Justice Shane Gill said: "If you want to challenge who he is to live with, this is the place to make that challenge, not by hiding him."

"What you're doing is likely to make authorities take your next child off you.

"Make it right and make it right soon, Ms Do."

The judge ordered that Lyn, who is 12 weeks pregnant, can relist her matter in court any time and secure her release if she will just tell authorities where her baby is.

"And then finally, she got jail for six months," Kim said.

"It's hard, it's painful, but it's out of my control. I don't know what to do. I just feel sorry for her and she's pregnant … like 12 weeks pregnant."

Lyn was supported at court by Thanh's mother, Dong Tran.

She said the couple are "very lovely".

"They live together," she said.

"But is she scared of Thanh?" I asked.

She said no, but that sometimes Thanh is "angry with my husband".

Thanh is also in jail after recent run-ins with police.

First, officers took an AVO against him to protect Lyn and his parents, and then he was arrested in January for breach of bail.

With both Thanh and Lyn now locked up and refusing to help authorities, it's going to take dedicated police work and the public's help to find baby Vinh.

"I still miss him every day. Some nights I just watch his video until three, four o'clock in the morning and then I cry all the way to the morning … it's very sad," Kim said.

Kim said after our story in December - police were investigating whether baby Vinh could be in Perth.

"I got another call - no caller ID - from the police in Perth and then I was very excited," Kim said.

"I thought they found him and then … he just asked me if Vinh had any birthmark on him.

She told him no.

"That's it - he said he's going to do follow up and that's it," Kim said.

Since then, she's heard nothing.

"I just wait every day, every hour with my phone 24/7 on me," she added.

"What would you say to anyone that's hiding Vinh?" I asked.

"If you have Vinh, please bring him out to me because you just can't hide him forever," Kim said.

To baby Vinh, she has this message.

"Grandma is missing you. I can't wait to see you again, Vinh. I love you so much. I wish you're healthy and come back to me soon."

To contact Crime Stoppers, call 1800 333 000 or visit their website here.