A Battambang midwife has been charged with unintentional murder over the death of a woman who was given a series of injections aimed at aborting her five-month-old foetus.

Deputy chief of Battambang Police, Cheth Vanny, said the 45-year-old nurse, Min Sa Em, worked at the Tuol Ta Ek District Health Centre and was charged on Saturday after her arrest on Thursday.

It is claimed that, for a US$50 fee, the nurse gave pregnant Kong Chakriya, aged 21, injections aiming at killing her unborn child after they first met on May 3.

“She was paid by the victim and her family to abort a five-month-old child but she has [allegedly] caused [the woman’s] death,” he said.

The nurse, said Deputy Police Chief of Battambang Miliary Police Ourn Chrysao Mondul, told Kong Chakriya after the first three injections that the baby would die and be delivered in three days.

However, after a second visit to the nurse for more injections, the baby had still not been delivered and the woman fell seriously ill.

Unable to pay for additional private treatment due to poor financial circumstances, the 21-year-old  died on Thursday at a provincial state hospital. Ourn Chrysao Mondul said that, according to a hospital report, the victim died because her womb had rotted away and the baby had died inside her.

The midwife has been sent to the Battambang provincial court for questioning.