Nanny who beat 6-month-old baby to death in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced to life in prison

On the afternoon of September 4, Linh, from Dong Thap, was convicted by the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City.Killing;forced to compensate the victim's family nearly 500 million dong.

According to the Trial Panel, the defendant's actions were particularly dangerous, the crime was committed in a case where the victim was under 16 years old and dependent on him. The defendant had many mitigating circumstances such as: honest confession, good character... but the consequences were particularly serious, so he needed to be severely punished.

The indictment determined that, due to unemployment, Linh posted information on Facebook about taking care of children (from one to two years old) at her home in Binh Tan District to earn extra income. In early January 2023, the parents brought the 6-month-old boy to Linh for care.

At noon on January 10, 2023, while Linh was changing the diaper, the baby started crying and got angry, so she hit the baby 2-3 times on the top of the head. A moment later, when the baby boy drank milk, he spit it out, so the nanny repeated the behavior. The victim sobbed.

Seeing the boy showing unusual signs, Linh called his mother and lied, "I fell off the hammock." When the victim turned purple, Linh panicked and called his family to take him to the emergency room in a state of cardiac arrest.

The next day, the father suspected that his son had been beaten and reported it to the police. The authorities intervened and invited Linh to come in for questioning. Linh admitted to the crime.

The child underwent surgery for a brain hemorrhage and received intensive treatment, but his condition was still critical, in a deep coma, with almost complete brain damage. After 7 months of treatment, in August 2023, the child died.

In court today, Linh admitted to the crime as stated in the indictment. She said she knew that children under one year old have immature heads and are not fully developed, but because she was too angry and could not control herself, she committed the wrongdoing.

"During my detention, I deeply regretted my actions," Linh said, adding that she did not have basic knowledge of child care and was not licensed by the authorities to care for children.

Invited to court, the doctor at Children's Hospital 1 (where the victim was treated) said that the child was admitted to the hospital in a state of clinical death and after a period of treatment, the patient did not survive.

Also participating in the questioning, the expert said that the defendant's use of his hand to hit the top of the child's head could have caused brain injury and caused the victim's death.

The child’s family representative requested Linh to compensate for treatment and burial costs and 100 months of basic salary (equivalent to 234 million VND). Initially, defendant Linh explained that her family was in difficult circumstances, but after listening to the panel of judges’ analysis and explanation, she agreed to this compensation level.

Defending herself, Linh cried and asked the jury to give her a light sentence so she could return home soon to start a new life and take care of her young child.