Mother in her 20s faces trial on child abuse murder charges

Prosecutors have charged a mother in her 20s with child abuse murder for allegedly neglecting her 19-month-old daughter to death. The case draws attention to how courts will rule on child deaths resulting from parental neglect. On the 30th, the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office's Women and Children Crimes Division announced that they had changed the charges against A (29) to child abuse murder and arrested her. Charges of child abandonment and neglect under the Child Welfare Act were also applied to A.

A is accused of causing the death of her 19-month-old second daughter, B, by not providing proper food while at their home in Namdong-gu, Incheon, on the 4th. According to the National Forensic Service's autopsy, B died from malnutrition and dehydration, weighing 4.7 kg at the time of death, less than half the average weight for a girl of the same age (10.4 kg).

Prosecutors applied the charge of child abuse murder, believing A foresaw the risk to her daughter's life and abandoned her. Investigations revealed that A failed to properly feed and neglected B from January onwards, leaving her alone at home for 92 out of 120 hours in the five days leading up to her death, during which A engaged in outside activities.

A is also accused of neglecting her elder daughter, who is in elementary school. During the period B was left alone at home, the elder daughter was temporarily placed with relatives.