2-month-old starved by her parents

Police arrested a couple in Incheon Monday for allegedly starving their infant daughter to death.

Incheon police said the 66-day-old girl weighed a normal amount at birth, 3.06 kilograms (6.74 pounds), but was only 1.98 kilograms when she died. Infants at two months weigh six to seven kilograms on average.

The couple reportedly neglected their daughter when she couldn’t eat baby formula and had not taken her to a doctor since her birth.

The infant caught a cold a week before she died. When she stopped breathing Sunday the couple claimed they attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for three hours. They eventually called an ambulance.

The emergency team reported the couple to the police after noticing the tininess of the daughter.

Under police questioning, the couple said they didn’t purposely starve the child but confessed they didn’t take normal care of her.

“The cause of death seems to be starvation as no signs of food were found in the child’s stomach,” said an official from the National Forensic Service after an autopsy.

The autopsy also showed a small fracture of the skull and bleeding in the scalp.

A police investigation revealed that the mother dropped the child on the floor last month when she was preparing infant formula.

“I didn’t take her to a hospital because she looked okay one or two hours after I dropped her,” said the wife.

“I breast-fed our first child but it was difficult, so I chose formula for her.”

Police requested a detention warrant for the husband but will investigate the wife without detention so she can take care of their son.

“The couple said they didn’t have enough money to take their daughter to a hospital,” said a police official, “but we will investigate whether this is true, given that the couple often went out to eat and ordered in food.”

BY CHOI MO-RAN [kim.yuna1@joongang.co.kr]