Abused boy, 5, to get psychiatric help

Abused boy, 5, to get psychiatric help
  FATHER ARRESTED AFTER VIDEO OF ATTACK PUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
  JEERAPONG PRASERTPONKRUNG,
SANTIPAP RAMASUTRA
THE NATION

THE SOCIAL Development and Human Security Ministry will rehabilitate the health, both physical and emotional, of a five-year-old boy who had been physically abused by his father.
“Our officials will take him to a psychiatrist. He’s frightened of his father,” Social Development and Human Security Minister Adul Saengsingkaew said yesterday.
A physical examination found bruises on the boy’s neck.
The ministry’s local office had already provided daily necessities and Bt2,000 in financial assistanceto his family.
The boy’s plight came to the attention of authorities when a video showing his father kicking and throttling him appeared on the Internet.
His mother recorded the beating last Thursday and uploaded the video on social media to plead for help from society. She had no courage to lodge a police complaint because, as a hilltribe woman, she had no Thai identification card, plus her father-in-law was a policeman.
The father, 30, is now in police |custody.
“We arrested him on Saturday,” said Pol Colonel Passakorn Klanwan, superintendent of Hat Yai Police Station. This family was residing in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district.
The suspect faces charges of using methamphetamine, abusing another person, physically or emotionally |torturing a child, and committing
 domestic violence.
At a police press conference, the suspect apologised, saying he was sad about what happened. He claimed he did it in a fit of anger because his son did not seem to memorise what he had taught. He was also under stress and was drunk.
The investigation showed the suspect had four children and his cruel behaviour had already |traumatised his eldest son, who was six years old.
“He has been put under the care of relatives,” a source said.
The Thai Journalist Association urged the media to stop releasing videos or photos of the boy being battered by his father.
“Don’t use any picture that will hurt the dignity of people in the news,” vice president Manop |Thip-osod said.
The disclosure of a child’s name, picture or information in a |way that could hurt his reputation, honour and benefits violated |the child protection law, he |said. “Offenders may face a jail term of up to six months and/or a maximum fine of Bt60,000,” he said.