A woman in her late 30s has been indicted for poisoning a 9-month-old infant she was taking care of by adding tranquilizers to the young child’s milk to try to keep him quiet, prosecutors said Tuesday.
In the indictment handed down by the Taiwan Shihlin District Prosecutors Office, prosecutors said the suspect, surnamed Mao (毛), violated the Criminal Code’s provisions on “causing injury.”
They also recommended that she be given a stiffer penalty because she “deliberately committed a crime against the child” based on the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act.
The incident occurred on April 4 when Mao added sedatives she obtained from a hospital to the milk prepared for the young child to get him to fall asleep, but ended up poisoning him.
After the mother brought home the boy from the babysitter’s residence, she thought he felt limp and could not wake him up, and decided to take him to Shin Kong Hospital in Shilin, prosecutors said.
After examining the baby’s blood, the hospital, which successfully treated the boy and eventually discharged him, told the mother that he was poisoned by substances containing benzodiazepines, and the mother reported the incident to police, prosecutors said.
Benzodiazepines, known as benzos, are categorized as a class of depressant drugs to treat conditions such as anxiety, insomnia and seizures.
Infants will suffer from poisoning if they take too big a dose of benzodiazepines, prosecutors said, citing a National Taiwan University Hospital report.
The suspect, who had taken care of the infant at her home since March and was paid NT$250 (US$8.06) an hour, later admitted she added tranquilizers such as Ativan and Bromazepam to the baby’s milk to stop his crying.
The suspect had been prescribed the drugs, which contain benzodiazepines, by Taipei City Hospital’s Kunming branch to treat her binge eating disorder.
According to prosecutors, the babysitter was unlicensed.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel