‘mistake’

B’klyn mom gets 18 yrs. for drowning toddler

A remorseful Brooklyn mother who insisted she drowned her 2-year-old daughter in 2016 “by mistake” while trying to discipline her was sentenced to 18 years in prison Wednesday.

Lin Li, 28, did not intend to kill her daughter, Melody Pheng, when she submerged her head in March 2016 as punishment for the toddler wetting her bed, the jury found. The Sunset Park mom was acquitted of murder but found guilty of manslaughter and attempted assault.

“It is my duty to take care of my children. And my daughter’s death, I really regret it. It was my mistake,” a handcuffed Li said Wednesday in Brooklyn Supreme Court through a Chinese interpreter, crying as she spoke.

“Losing my daughter is very, very painful to me. I hope, Your Honor, no matter how much time you’re going to send me away [for], I will accept it.”

Li brought her daughter into the bathroom of their home to punish her, filling a storage container with water and dunking the little girl’s head in it. She allegedly did the same thing to her son the day before, prosecutors said.

“The defendant’s actions towards her children were horrible, monstrous and should never been taken by someone who is a biological parent to a child — who is supposed to be protecting a child,” said Assistant District Attorney Roger McCready.

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Li to 35 years in prison — 25 years for manslaughter and an additional 10 for attempted assault.

But although Justice Deborah Dowling agreed the drowning was “more than a “mistake,” she cut the prosecution’s recommendation nearly in half, to 18 years.

“This case certainly is a tragedy. This case was not a mistake. It’s more than a mistake,” Dowling said. “And although we have children, the children are not our property to dispose of at our will.”