Thai stepfather denies abusing 4 year old boy despite visible injuries (video)

A Thai social media influencer solicited help from the police to rescue a four year old boy from his abusive stepfather, who denied allegations of abuse despite visible bite marks, bruises, and burns on the child’s body.

A community leader in the Khlong Samwa district of Bangkok reported the child abuse to the Bangkok Metropolitan Council and social media influencer Guntouch “Gun” Pongpaiboonwet after noticing the bruises on the boy’s face, bottom, and penis. The boy also suffered bite marks and burns, possibly from a burning cigarette.

Channel 3 reported that the boy lived with his biological mother and stepfather. The boy usually cried and screamed at night, and locals in the area also heard the stepfather causing a racket at night time. The family only moved to the community in January and the stepfather worked at a nearby construction site.

Gun, with officers from Kannayao Police Station and the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (M-Society), visited the community on Sunday, February 11. They met the boy and his mother, 26 year old Tai, in a rented room in the community and took them to the police station for questioning.

Tai revealed to the police that her 22 year old boyfriend, Adisorn, began physically abusing her son in January. Adisorn allegedly bit the boy in the face and his body and frequently beat his back, especially at night after work.

Tai insisted that she asked Adisorn to stop his action several times but he continued to hurt the boy. She kept asking him whether he loved her son or not. Adisorn always insisted that he loved the boy as his own.

Playful aggression

Adisorn was taken to the police station by his employer. Adisorn denied the abuse and described his actions as cute aggression. He said he loved the boy like his own son and wanted to play with him. He insisted that he was just playing too hard with the boy but stopped when the child cried.

Adisorn denied he pressed lit cigarettes into the boy’s body. He also insisted that he had never noticed that the boy had bruises on his penis and bottom. Adisorn said he had no intention of harming the boy. He maintained his innocence, adding he is happy to face the legal process.

Despite his denial, members of the local community reported to the police that they had witnessed instances of physical abuse, noting that the boy displayed signs of fear towards his stepfather.

The boy had expressed a preference to sleep at his neighbours’ homes rather than with his mother and stepfather. Both Gun and the police agreed that the bruises and wounds found on the boy’s body, coupled with testimony from locals, warranted charging Adisorn. The police intended to conduct further questioning of Tai to ascertain her role in the abuse.

Tai told Channel 3 that she would ask her parents in the Isaan province of Yasothon to care for the boy. Despite the abuse, she planned to continue living with Adisorn because he did not harm her and she was pregnant with his child. Tai believed Adisorn was a good person despite the abusive acts against her son.