TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- A caregiver is being investigated for negligent homicide after surveillance camera footage showed her appearing to pin down an 11-month old boy before he died of suffocation on Monday afternoon (April 1) at an infant care center in Taipei, reported Liberty Times.
On Monday, a 40-year-old caregiver surnamed Liao (廖) said that the child had eaten breakfast at 10 a.m. and later took a nap in the afternoon at an infant care center on Section 1, Kangning Road in Taipei's Neihu District. Liao said that she was in charge of watching over all the babies as they took their afternoon nap, but gave no explanation of what transpired next.
At 2 p.m.. a 61-year-old cook for the infant care center surnamed Wu (吳) prepared to feed the babies an afternoon snack. She saw that a boy, surnamed Li (李), was lying still and was not responding to her calls to wake him.
When Wu turned the infant over, she discovered his skin had turned purple. She panicked and hurriedly called for a nurse, who immediately implemented CPR and called the fire department.
Paramedics rushed the baby to the nearest hospital, but doctors were unable to resuscitate him.
When police reviewed surveillance camera footage of the room where the children had been sleeping, they discovered that Liao had been lying on top of the baby for 19 minutes and prevented him from wriggling out from under her.
Police immediately transferred Liao to the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office on charges of negligent homicide (過失致死罪). She was later released on bail.
The boy's father decided to make the case public and told the media that the woman had held his child in an improper position and pressed him on the ground for 19 minutes before he died of suffocation.
In video footage that has been released by police, the woman can be seen lying sideways on top of the infant boy with his face turned toward the mat. Throughout the video, the baby can be seen trying to struggle free, but the woman continues to hold him in a tight embrace, giving little or no room to breath.
The parents of the child were horrified with what they saw and demanded that the infant care center provide them with justice.
Police say that the exact cause of death has yet to be determined pending an autopsy on the child and the incident is still under investigation.
