Nguyễn Võ Quỳnh Trang (left) and Nguyễn Trung Kim Thái are to be prosecuted for additional crimes. — Facebook photo

HCM CITY — Nguyễn Võ Quỳnh Trang, a woman accused of beating her fiancée's daughter to death will be prosecuted for the additional crime of murder, HCM City police said on Wednesday.

Trang, 26, from Gia Lai Province, was arrested on December 23 and earlier charged for "abusing the eight-year-old child" to death.

Police have also charged Nguyễn Trung Kim Thái, the child's father, for "abusing others" and "concealing crimes."

On December 30, Bình Thạnh District Police arrested Thái to investigate his behaviour relating to his daughter’s death.

According to the initial investigation, Trang and Thái had lived together for more than a year after Thái divorced his ex-wife. Since then, Trang had frequently forced the little girl to do chores and beat her with her hands and wooden sticks during the time they lived together at an apartment in Bình Thạnh.

It is alleged that Thái had witnessed Trang beating and torturing his daughter many times and that he also cursed at and hit the girl. 

It is also reported that Thái and Trang repeatedly refused to allow the biological mother to visit the girl.

On the afternoon of December 22, the child was repeatedly beaten by Trang for almost four hours, and died on the way to the hospital. 

After his daughter died, Thái deleted his apartment's closed-circuit camera data to avoid detection by the authorities.

The investigation is ongoing. — VNS