CHINA / SOCIETY
Babysitter suspected of causing the deadly fall of a 2-year-old girl is under police investigation
Published: Jun 28, 2022 01:52 AM
Photo: Screenshot of Weibo video
The little girl fell to her death in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province Photo: surveillance video in the elevator

The Hangzhou police filed the case for investigation of a babysitter for allegedly causing the death of a girl under the age of two, media reported on Monday quoting the girl's father, noting that the girl's family wants the babysitter to be held criminally responsible and the agent and the property owner to face civil liabilities.

The girl, who was 21 months old, fell to her death in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, when she stepped out of the elevator on the eighth floor of the apartment building where she lived after the babysitter left her behind, according to media reports.

"The babysitter has only been at our home for seven days and a later surveillance video showed that she was checking her phone in the elevator and did not realize that the little girl had been left behind," said the girl's father, adding that the babysitter even lied after the incident, saying that his daughter was left in the elevator because she went back for picking up twigs.

The girl's father believes that the factors leading to the girl's death are not only the negligence of the babysitter, but also the low windowsill and unclosed windows in the apartment where they live.

The window of the corridor on the eight floor is 90 centimeters away from the ground, with a windowsill about 50 centimeters high, the girl's father said, adding that his daughter is 80 centimeters tall.

The company that designed the building measured the windowsill to show that the stool is indeed wide and said that it will never evade its responsibility and will further conduct a comprehensive investigation and rectification of the hidden dangers in the community, the person in charge of the residential property said.

According to the notice of case filing provided by the girl's family, the police in Gongshu district has filed the case for further investigation.

Global Times