Bùi Thị Tâm (20) and Nguyễn Minh Hiệp (22). — Photo courtesy of the police

HÀ NỘI — A four-year-old girl in Hà Nội has died after allegedly suffering repeated physical abuse and prolonged starvation by her mother and the mother’s partner, as the pair has been arrested on Thursday on charge of murder.

According to the municipal police department, Nguyễn Minh Hiệp, 22, from the northern province of Ninh Bình, and Bàn Thị Tâm, 20, from Tuyên Quang Province, had been living together as a couple in a rented room in Hà Nội’s Phú Diễn Ward since March.

The victim, B.T.H, born in 2022, was the biological daughter of Tâm.

Earlier, at around 6pm on May 3, E Hospital admitted B.T.H. for emergency treatment in a state of cardiac arrest and deep coma, with multiple bruises found across her body.

A preliminary forensic examination concluded that the child had suffered bodily injuries amounting to 99 per cent.

Despite intensive efforts by doctors to save her, the girl succumbed to her severe injuries and died on the afternoon of May 6.

According to Hà Nội police, the fatal incident occurred on the afternoon of May 3 when Hiệp and Tâm returned home after the pair went to the hospital for a maternal checkup (Tâm is currently pregnant) and found the child about to eat some sweets and snacks.

Believing the girl had been sneakily eating the food without permissions, Tâm allegedly beat her repeatedly in the face and head with a slipper before forcing her to stand in a corner of the room.

Police said that after the girl urinated in the corner, Tâm again struck her in the face and ordered her to take a shower.

While in the bathroom, Hiệp allegedly became angry after seeing the child playing around.

Investigators said he pinned the girl’s cheeks with his feet and sprayed water continuously into her mouth and nose using a shower hose.

Tâm reportedly witnessed the abuse but did not intervene and went outside instead.

A short time later, the couple noticed the child showing abnormal symptoms and took her to E Hospital for emergency treatment, but the girl later died.

During questioning, both suspects allegedly admitted to regularly beating and abusing the child for the past month with shoes, broomstick, clothes hanger, etc., They also said they punished her by forcing her to wear a heavy water bottle around her neck, and at times depriving her of food for several days.

Following the incident, the director of the Hà Nội Police Department ordered the Criminal Police Division and other relevant units to urgently investigate the case.

On May 7, investigators formally charged both Hiệp and Tâm with murder, while investigation continues. — VNS