A drug-addicted father in Thailand has been accused of abandoning his two-week-old baby in the wild to get back at his wife who refused him sex right after she gave birth.
The 21-year-old man, surnamed Wuttichai, was arrested by the police, and facing drug charges after the incident was exposed by his wife, 22-year-old Orathai, on March 21, Thailand’s Channel 7 News reported.
Wuttichai took their two-week-old son to a banana grove, took a photo of the baby lying on the ground, and sent it to his wife, who was at a friend’s home.
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The suggestion was that he had abandoned the infant.
Shocked Orathai immediately told the village chief, and posted their message exchange online to rebuke her husband publicly.
Wuttichai was reported to have taken the baby back home safely.
The police launched an investigation and tracked down the family who to northeast Thailand’s Buriram province.
Orathai complained to the police that her husband was a drug addict and a gambler.
He also inflicted constant violence on her and their older, one-year-old child.
The couple had been fighting because she was not willing to have sex with him so soon after giving birth.
Wuttichai denied the allegations, and said he only put his sleeping son in the banana grove for a photo and did not intend to abandon him.
He admitted that he asked his wife for sex many times, but said he did not mean it.
The police tested his urine based on the drug addict claim from his wife, and the result was positive.
He now faces drugs charges, and will undergo rehabilitation as required by the law.
The potential sentence for the abandonment of a child under nine years old, which does not lead to further bodily harm to the child, is up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 6,000 baht (US$180).
“Physical violence towards his wife and children, gambling, drug use. Demanding sex 12 days after her delivery. I am speechless,” said one online observer.
“Shame on the man. How can he do that to his wife and a child that small? He should not be a father,” said another.
“Why would she have a child with a drug addict? I feel sorry for the child,” said a third.
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