Police in Hanoi apprehended two babysitters of an unregistered daycare facility in Thuong Tin District on Friday for the investigation into their assault on a 17-month-old boy to death last month.

Nguyen Thi An, 30, and Nguyen Thi Lanh, 31, are being investigated for murder, according to police officers.

The family of the victim, 17-month-old P.T.D., reported his death following his attendance at the daycare facility run by An and Lanh to the police department of Thuong Tin District at around 5:00 pm on Wednesday.

An and Lanh were immediately summoned by the police and said in their first account that the boy fell on his own and was not affected by outside forces. 

However, the unusual points in the account did not convince police officers.

The two babysitters then gave a different account, saying that Lanh walked backward and bumped into D. and An slipped in an attempt to hold the baby, causing the victim to fall and hit his head on the floor.

As this account still contradicted the injuries on the victim’s body, police kept questioning the two women.

It took about one day until An and Lanh admitted to assaulting the baby to death.

Accordingly, Lanh was angry at D. for crying and running outdoors when it was nap time at the daycare facility on the morning of February 23 and used her two hands to pick D. up and threw him down, causing his head to hit the floor.

Then, Lanh slapped the victim and An kicked the baby’s stomach, chest, as well as booted and stepped on his head.

When the child’s parents came to pick him up on the same day, the two babysitters said that D. fell by himself.

D.’s family kept sending him to the daycare place on February 24, 25, and 26.

On the morning of February 26, An kicked D.’s abdomen again for crying. 

The kick left the victim unconscious.

An and Lanh called the baby’s family and then took the victim to a medical facility for emergency treatment.

The boy was then transferred to a hospital, which gave him a death prognosis on Wednesday afternoon.

His family took him home and he passed away on Thursday afternoon.

Autopsy workers determined the cause of D.’s death was traumatic brain injury, bleeding, and cerebral edema.

An and Lanh rented a house in Thuong Tin District to provide daycare service and have yet to make business registration.

They babysat a total of six children, with D. just boarding their place for more than one week at the time of the incident.

The two women made excuses for their violent behaviors as a way to train D. to follow the daycare facility's regulations.

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