A man in his 40s, identified only as A, who is accused of beating his 2-month-old daughter to death because she would not sleep, leaves Yongin Dongbu Police Station in Cheoin-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday to board a transport vehicle ahead of his pretrial detention hearing. [Yonhap]
A man in his 40s, identified only as A, who is accused of beating his 2-month-old daughter to death because she would not sleep, leaves Yongin Dongbu Police Station in Cheoin-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday to board a transport vehicle ahead of his pretrial detention hearing. [Yonhap]

A man in his 40s accused of beating his 2-month-old daughter to death because she would not sleep appeared Wednesday for a pretrial detention hearing.

The Suwon District Court held the hearing for the suspect, identified only as A, on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes — specifically child abuse resulting in death — Yonhap reported.

A left Yongin Dongbu Police Station at around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and boarded a transport vehicle bound for Suwon District Court.

He appeared with his face covered, wearing a navy cap and a mask.

When asked whether he had beaten the child because she would not sleep, and why he had remotely deleted footage from a home security camera, A repeatedly said, "I'm sorry."

Asked how he planned to defend himself, he said, "I will speak honestly." When asked whether he had anything to say to his family, he replied, "I'm sorry. I apologize."

A ruling on whether to detain A was expected later Wednesday.

A is accused of striking his daughter, identified as B, in the face multiple times with his hand in the early morning hours of Sunday at the family's home in Seodong, Osan, Gyeonggi Province.

Investigators believe A committed the assault after growing frustrated when B would not stop crying and fall asleep while he was watching over her.

Police found bruising and other external injuries on B's body. They also detected signs that A had remotely deleted home security camera footage from his mobile phone immediately after she was pronounced dead, and arrested him on suspicion of murder.

A denied any intent to kill during police questioning, and investigators applied for the detention warrant on the lesser charge of child abuse resulting in death — the only offense established so far.

'Death presumed to be caused by head injury'

A man in his 40s, identified only as A, who is accused of beating his 2-month-old daughter to death because she would not sleep, leaves Yongin Dongbu Police Station in Cheoin-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday to board a transport vehicle ahead of his pretrial detention hearing. [Yonhap]
A man in his 40s, identified only as A, who is accused of beating his 2-month-old daughter to death because she would not sleep, leaves Yongin Dongbu Police Station in Cheoin-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday to board a transport vehicle ahead of his pretrial detention hearing. [Yonhap]

A's wife, who was sleeping in a separate room at the time of the assault, had no involvement and was unaware the attack had taken place, investigators said.

Police said there was no prior record of child abuse reports linked to the family.

After conducting an autopsy on B, the National Forensic Service conveyed a preliminary verbal finding to police: "Death is presumed to have been caused by head injury, with no injuries identified on other parts of the body."

Police plan to attempt to recover the deleted footage through digital forensic analysis of a memory chip seized from the home security camera. They will also investigate whether A acted with intent to kill, based on detailed autopsy results and further inquiry.

Officers had responded to a 112 emergency call at around 3:47 a.m. reporting that "the child is not breathing."

B was transported to a hospital in cardiac arrest and died during treatment.


yul@heraldcorp.com