Tainan authorities yesterday launched an investigation into the death of a one-year-old girl, who was allegedly beaten to death by her 17-year-old mother and three relatives.
The girl was allegedly beaten on Tuesday over a cup of spilled milk, local Chinese-language media reported.
She was taken to a hospital later that night, but doctors found that the girl had been dead for a few hours, reports said.
The girl’s body was covered in old and fresh bruises, suggesting that she had been previously abused, the doctors said.
Tainan police brought in the four suspects for questioning, during which they admitted to beating the girl on Tuesday, police said.
The suspects reportedly admitted to routinely doling out physical punishment to the baby to silence her, because she frequently cried.
Word of the child’s death quickly spread on social media and a crowd gathered outside the police precinct where the suspects were being held.
Several people tried to assault the suspects as they were being escorted out of the precinct for further questioning at the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office.
A coroner’s examination found that the girl had internal bleeding in her brain and signs of other internal trauma in her body.
Tainan prosecutor Yeh Ching-tsai (葉清財) said that he almost could not bear to watch the coroner’s examination, as the girl’s body was covered in red and purple bruises.
“It was very painful for me to follow the examination. I broke down and cried. I will do my job properly to investigate the case in detail and bring justice for the child,” he said.
Prosecutors last night said that they would charge the suspects with murder, and asked a local court not to grant bail and place them under detention.
“We all feel sorry about this tragic incident and I have requested that all city departments be proactive when dealing with such cases. We shall have zero tolerance for child abuse in Tainan,” Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said.
“I have asked all police units, social welfare agencies and schools to have plans in place, to be aware of child abuse, and to report and deal with such cases early on,” Huang said.
“I also urge everyone in society to take a stand on this issue... It is better to watch and listen to your surroundings for such incidents, and immediately alert the police and social workers, so that the abused children can be quickly saved from violence,” Huang added.
Police said that they conducted a search at the mother’s home and found rattan sticks, a plastic water hose and other plastic tools, which they suspected were used to beat the girl.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS