Chinese woman suspected of pushing needles into her baby niece's body kills herself

[LightYears]

Chinese woman suspected of pushing needles into her baby niece's body kills herself

PUBLISHED : Monday, 27 October, 2014, 9:08am
UPDATED : Monday, 27 October, 2014, 11:41am

Staff Reporter

An X-ray of the girl's body showed needles had been pushed into her

A woman suspected of sticking 16 needles into her 11-month-old niece has killed herself by consuming poison, according to reports.

The woman was found dead after the horrific tale of Zhang Zixuan made headlines, fawan.co.cn reported.

The needles were discovered after Zhang became irritable and a strange red patch appeared on her bottom. Her mother took her to hospital where X-rays revealed multiple needles had been inserted into the youngster's hip, abdomen, pelvis and ribs.

Following surgery at the Qilu Hospital of Shangdong University, the girl was taken to Beijing for further treatment. Doctors say she will need multiple operations.

Following the discovery the girl’s father, Fang Guangsheng, revealed that four needles had been found inside his daughter a month earlier, but at the time he and his wife had considered it to be an accident and were not alarmed.

The mother, not identified by name, said she did not know who could have injured her daughter. “I never left her alone, except for when I was cooking or washing clothes, when others would look after the baby,” she told Shandong Television.

A number of similar child abuse cases involving steel pins or needles have been reported in the Chinese media in recent years.

In August, a three-year-old girl from Jiangxi province was taken to hospital after her grandmother found her belly had swollen like a watermelon and there were bruises all over her body. A medical examination showed her intestine had been pierced by a 6cm-long needle.

In 2008, a Hong Kong woman was placed on a year’s probation bond and ordered to undergo counselling and seek psychiatric treatment after she repeatedly pricked her nine-year-old daughter with needles because she was angry the child had not done housework.

The girl was pricked with needles about 20 times on her hands, arms and head, although she did not suffer serious injuries.