New York Toddler Drowned By Mother As Punishment For Wetting Herself

A Brooklyn, New York, mother was sentenced to 18 years in prison Wednesday for drowning her toddler daughter as a punishment for wetting her bed in 2016.

In March 2016, the accused, identified as 28-year-old Lin Li, submerged her two-year-old daughter’s head in a plastic container filled with water as a punishment for wetting herself. When the toddler stopped moving, the woman called 911. The responding officers found the toddler’s father performing CPR on his daughter, Melody Pheng. The baby was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead.

An autopsy revealed that the toddler had several contusions and bruises which were “consistent with her being held underwater.”

In June 2019, the accused was convicted of manslaughter and acting in a manner injurious to a child.

Addressing the court, Li said, “I would like to say being a mom, it is my duty to take care of my children, and I really regret my daughter's death. It was my mistake...losing my daughter is very, very painful to me.”

Meanwhile, calling it a “tragic case,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, “This defendant had a duty to care for her children and to keep them safe, but instead she used inexplicable and dangerous methods to discipline them – and caused the violent death her daughter. Nothing can bring back little Melody, who had an entire life ahead of her. But, with today’s sentence, we have obtained a measure of justice in this terribly tragic case.”