Aunt of abused baby swallows lethal cocktail
Print Edition
A police investigation into a baby girl found to have had 12 needles inserted into her body took a new twist yesterday when the child’s aunt committed suicide.
The 26-year-old, named as Liu Hongyun, was found to have consumed an unspecified amount of phorate — a banned and highly toxic pesticide — at her home in Liaocheng, east China’s Shandong Province, Qilu Evening News reported.
She was rushed to hospital but doctors were unable to save her, the report said.
According to local newspaper Life Daily, Liu, who was the mother of a 9-month-old girl, had earlier been quizzed by police about the injuries suffered by her 11-month-old niece.
On Monday, the infant’s parents took her for a checkup at a local hospital as she had been crying more than usual.
Doctors conducted an examination and found that 12 hypodermic and sewing needles had been inserted deep into the child’s flesh.
Most had been pushed through her buttocks and stomach, and several were dangerously close to her kidneys, lungs and bladder, the report said.
Fan Guangsheng, the girl’s father, told Qilu Evening News that a month earlier his wife had spotted four needles — three of them hypodermic — sticking out of the baby’s thighs and stomach.
Despite the strangeness of the incident, the parents assumed the needles had got there by accident and simply removed them.
Fan said he became concerned, however, when his usually happy daughter began crying more than usual. After his wife discovered several red dots on the child’s bottom, the pair thought she might have been bitten by an insect and decided to take her for a checkup.
While doctors at the local hospital were able to identify the presence of the needles, they said they lacked the facilities to remove them.
Fan took the child to a larger hospital in Jinan, capital of Shandong, but staff there, too, said they were unable to help. They instead recommended the infant be taken to Beijing Children’s Hospital, where she was admitted on Thursday.
Doctors said because of the child’s young age, they will have to conduct several surgeries to remove all 12 needles.
The first operation, to remove three that are in her chest and are potentially life threatening, will be conducted next Tuesday, the Beijing Morning Post reported.
The procedure will take at least six hours to complete, the report said.
Police launched a criminal investigation on Wednesday and have since questioned the baby’s parents, grandparents and other close family members, including her Aunt Liu.
Qilu Evening News reported that friends from the baby’s home village have begun raising money to help pay for her medical treatment.
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