A father in his 40s has been detained on suspicion of beating his 2-month-old daughter to death after becoming angry when she would not sleep, police said Wednesday.
The Suwon District Court issued an arrest warrant for the man on charges of child abuse resulting in death, citing concerns that the suspect could flee or destroy evidence.
As the suspect left Yongin Dongbu Police Station at around 8:30 a.m. that day to attend the warrant hearing, he said, "I'm sorry" when reporters asked whether he had beaten his daughter because she would not sleep and why he had deleted home security camera footage.
The suspect allegedly struck his daughter repeatedly in the face with his hand at their house in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, early Sunday morning, according to police. Investigators believe he was sleeping with the infant when she kept crying and would not fall asleep, causing him to become frustrated and strike her.
Police initially arrested the father on suspicion of murder after finding bruises and other external injuries on the infant’s body. Investigators also discovered that he had remotely deleted footage from a home security camera shortly after the child was pronounced dead.
The suspect has denied intending to kill his daughter. With the suspect now in custody, police plan to continue investigating the case.
hwkan@heraldcorp.com