Hứa Thị Trang's house, where the one-year-old girl is believed to have died. — Photo from HCM City's Police

HCM CITY — A 21-year-old woman was detained in HCM City on Tuesday for a criminal investigation into the fatal abuse of a one-year-old girl.

Hứa Thị Trang was charged with ‘deliberate infliction of bodily harm on another person leading to death,’ according to Bình Tân District police.

From early morning to the afternoon, Trang was the regular babysitter of the infant, named K, the daughter of  37-year-old woman named V.

On the morning of May 27, V, a worker at Pouyuen Co. Ltd., brought her daughter to Trang’s house so she could take care of her as usual.

At noon, Trang called the woman to say that the child was suffering from serious coughing, was vomiting and that her skin has turned purplish (cyanosis).

The mother immediately returned to bring the child to emergency care but the infant died before admission, according to doctors.

A police autopsy indicated the baby had suffered multiple injuries to the abdomen, liver, and lungs. Trang was summoned to the police on suspicion of abuse.

Trang admitted that she was angry as the child was coughing and vomiting, so she had hit the child in the abdomen several times using her hands.

The child later turned pale and lost consciousness, which is when she phoned the mother. — VNS