A Brooklyn woman was convicted of first-degree manslaughter after she drowned her 2-year-old daughter in a storage bin.
According to the New York Post, Lin Li was arrested in March 2016 after her daughter Melody died by drowning. Prosecutors reportedly said that Li had forced the 2-year-old girl to stand facing a wall for several hours, and when the girl urinated herself. her mother submerged her in a container in the bathtub as punishment. The girl eventually stopped breathing, according to the report, and the toddler’s father tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her. She was later transported to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
When police questioned another sibling the home about the drowning, that child reportedly said: “That’s how Mommy punishes us.”
As the New York Post reports, Li , now 27, was convicted on Tuesday of first-degree manslaughter and faces up to 25 years in prison. She was also convicted for assault, as she had reportedly held her 4-year-old son’s underwater the day before her daughter drowned.
“Melody was a defenseless child who depended on her mother to protect her,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement obtained by the New York Post.
“It is extremely sad and inexplicable that she lost her life at the hands of the person who should have kept her safe. Nothing will bring Melody back, but with this verdict we make clear that we will bring to justice those who harm our children.”
Li is expected to be sentenced in June.
[Feature image: Lin Li/New York Police Department]
