SUNSET PARK, Brooklyn — A Brooklyn mom was sentenced to 18 years in prison Wednesday for drowning her 2-year-old daughter in 2016 by holding her head under water.

Lin Li was convicted of manslaughter in Melody Zheng's death, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. Li brought her daughter to the bathroom to punish her. She put her head in a storage container filled with water and held her there under until she stopped struggling. She'd also held her 4-year-old son's head under water a day earlier.

“This defendant had a duty to care for her children and to keep them safe, but instead she used inexplicable and dangerous methods to discipline them – and caused the violent death her daughter," Gonzalez said. "Nothing can bring back little Melody, who had an entire life ahead of her. But, with today’s sentence, we have obtained a measure of justice in this terribly tragic case.”

The Sunset Park woman called 911 and emergency medical services rushed the bruised and unconscious toddler to a local hospital, but she didn't survive.

Li, 28, was convicted on June 4.

