Nguyễn Võ Quỳnh Trang, 27, from Gia Lai City. — Photo tuoitre.vn

HCM CITY — A woman accused of torturing and murdering her eight-year-old stepdaughter has been charged with the crimes by the People's Procuracy of HCM City.

If convicted, Nguyễn Võ Quỳnh Trang, 27, from Gia Lai City, could be sentenced to death, the highest punishment available for murder in Việt Nam.

The child's father, Nguyễn Kim Trung Thái, 37, has also been charged with torture and for covering up his partner's crimes.

According to the indictment issued on Wednesday, the girl is the daughter of Thái and his ex-wife Nguyễn Thị H.

In August 2020, the couple divorced and Thái was allowed to raise their daughter.

In September 2020, Thai started living with his girlfriend Trang at an apartment in Saigon Pearl apartment building, HCM City’s Bình Thạnh District. The daughter also lived with them.

During the daughter’s online class in October 2021, Thái asked Trang to take care of the girl. During the time, Trang repeatedly used her hands, feet, whips, and wooden and metal sticks to beat and torture her.

Trang did not allow the child to get dressed, beating her, forcing her to kneel and raise her hands high.

The child was even forced to stay in a kennel or kneel while learning. Trang cut the child’s hair, covered the child's head with a towel and repeatedly banged her head on a table.

Trang performed many forms of beating and torture and repeatedly cursed the child over a long period of time, leaving physical and emotional pain for the child.

Thái witnessed his daughter being beaten and tortured by Trang but did not intervene. He also scolded and beat the child. Thái was an accomplice with Trang in the crime of torturing others.

On December 22, 2021, Trang used a large round stick, her hands, and feet, and repeatedly brutally beat the child for four hours in a row, eventually causing her death.

According to the indictment, Trang knew that repeatedly attacking the child’s vagina could cause her death but intentionally continued in a cruel and merciless way. Trang's conduct constitutes murder.

Knowing Trang's criminal actions, Thái deleted all camera data of the apartment in order to conceal the crime, avoid detection and hinder the investigation. Thái's conduct constitutes a cover-up of the crime.

Regarding the motive of the crime, Trang stated that she beat and tortured the child because she did not study well. However, the child’s teacher and her nanny verified that the girl was obedient, polite and a good student.

The camera data shows that Trang repeatedly beat the child outside of school time for unreasonable reasons.

In addition, the investigation results show that Thái did not want to have children with Trang, and his family did not accept her as a family member. Such reasons made Trang jealous of the child’s mother. Trang once went to see the mother and asked her not to visit the daughter.

Trang was arrested on December 23, one day after the child’s death, following a hospital report on the girl's unusual wounds and injuries. On December 28 she was prosecuted on charges of torturing others.

Thái was detained on December 31 on suspicion of the same crime.

Police in Bình Thạnh transferred the case to the municipal Department of Public Security for further investigation on January 1 due to its serious nature. — VNS