After a 4-year-old girl in southern Binh Duong province was hospitalized last week after being beaten by a couple who live together without a marriage certificate, another man has appeared and claimed he is the biological father of the girl, police said.

>> Vietnamese couple detained for brutally beating little daughter Tran Van To, a 31-year-old man from southern Soc Trang Province, arrived at the Binh Duong Province General Hospital to show a household registration book which includes the name of the girl, Do Thi Kim Ngan, and told hospital management that he is Ngan’s father. Ngan was not shy when To arrived, and said the man is her father. The little girl has partly recovered from brain injuries and other serious wounds after she was brutalized by 26-year-old Nguyen Thi Thuy Trang, and her de facto husband, Do Trong Minh, 27. The girl was hospitalized on September 12. To confirmed to the hospital management that Ngan is his daughter with Trang. Trang hasn’t lived with him for several years. He and Trang married and obtained a certificate of marriage ten years ago, To said. The couple gave birth to Ngan in 2011, and a year later, Trang took Ngan along with her to her parents’ house in Dong Nai Province to stay. To had visited Trang and their daughter several times to ask them to return to Soc Trang and live with him again, but Trang refused. To also said he had not known about the relationship between Trang and Minh, whom Ngan called “Dad Minh”. Since Minh and Trang claimed they are Ngan’s parents, the local police said they will have to verify who the girl’s father really is. To said he learned about his daughter’s situation through the media, and wanted to take and raise the little girl. “Grandmother” appears Also yesterday, a 50-year-old woman, Nguyen Thi Loan, reported to Binh Duong police that she is Ngan’s grandmother, and that Minh is her son-in-law and the girl’s biological father. Loan said she has not seen Trang (her daughter) since the young woman left Dong Nai to go to Binh Duong to work as a seamstress two years ago. Trang and Minh rented a house in Binh Duong’s Di An Town, where they mistreated Ngan. Ngan was taken to the Binh Duong General Hospital by her neighbors, who saw her lying unconscious on the floor of the house on September 12. Loan asked police to let her take and bring up Ngan, as she is the girl’s grandmother. The authorities said they need to determine Ngan’s parents before any decision related to the girl’s release is made. DNA tests can also be performed to identify who is Ngan’s real father, police in Di An Town said.