The Taipei District Court yesterday found a woman guilty of killing her niece by mixing the girl’s baby formula with a lethal amount of table salt and sentenced her to 20 years in prison.
The baby, known as “Hsiang Hsiang” (緗緗), died on Nov. 15 last year — five days before turning three months old — after developing a fever and other symptoms. The cause of death was listed as a high level of sodium in her blood.
Prosecutors investigating the case found that a large amount of salt had been mixed with a can of powdered formula.
During the investigation, Tsou Ya-ting (鄒雅婷) admitted to putting salt into the milk formula consumed by her niece, which the autopsy revealed was the primary cause of the girl’s death.
She was quoted by investigators as saying that she only wanted to make Hsiang Hsiang sick, but did not intend to kill her.
Tsou was indicted on a charge of intentional injury causing death in December last year, with the indictment saying that Tsou on five occasions mixed about 25g of salt with the infant formula between September and October last year.
Investigators found that Tsou, 34, had a feud with the baby’s mother, surnamed Chen (陳), her sister-in-law, because Chen scolded Tsou’s two children due to minor disputes.
Tsou was also angry because she and her husband, surnamed Shen (沈), was forced to move out of the family home after Chen married into the Shen family, according to the investigation.
After yesterday’s ruling by the court’s collegiate bench, Tsou’s lawyer, Chou Wu-jung (周武榮), said they regard the 20-year prison term as too harsh and would lodge an appeal with a higher court.
Additional reporting by CNA
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