Woman arrested for torturing infant in Hà Nam

HÀ NAM — Police in northern Hà Nam Province on Thursday arrested a woman for allegedly torturing an infant.

Nguyễn Thị Hàn, 58, from northern Nam Định Province, was found to be repeatedly hitting a two-month old baby while working at a house in Hà Nam Province’s Phủ Lý City. Hàn had been a domestic helper for the baby’s family for nearly two months.

The abuse was discovered by the baby’s father when he checked the house’s security camera system. The video showed Hàn slapping the infant on her face, head and back. Hàn was also seen throwing the girl in the air and screaming at her for crying.

The baby’s mother told Phapluatnet online newspaper that the family decided to install the camera after noticing some suspicious signs -- the baby’s face would often get red and she often hiccupped while breastfeeding.

The baby’s father has reported the case to local authorities.

Some 3,000-4,000 Vietnamese children suffer from abuse and maltreatment every year, humanitarian organization World Vision Vietnam said.

Earlier this year, two teachers in Hà Nội were fined VNĐ2.5 million (US$110) each after an online video showed them beating crying children on the head with various objects, including a slipper.

In a rare case, a court in the Mekong Delta Province of Kien Giang sentenced two babysitters to three years in jail back in January 2014 for torturing children at an unlicensed private nursery.

Another babysitter in HCM City received an 18-year sentence the same year for killing a baby after she couldn’t stop his crying. She escaped the death sentence because she was under-18 when the fatal incident occurred. — LV