Police in Vietnam have arrested a young man after suspecting him of beating a three-month-old boy to death during his quarrel with his unofficial wife who is the baby’s mother.

The suspect, 19-year-old Nguyen Minh Phung, a resident in southern Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province, was detained on Friday for investigation on charge of murder, local police reported on Friday.

The arrest came four days after Phung beat the three-month-old baby, often called Bo, to faint and the boy died later on the way to a hospital.

An autopsy made on Bo determined that the boy died from a traumatic brain injury while having a buildup of blood underneath the scalp, and a lot of scratches over his body, local police stated. 

The baby was also found having undergone treatment for his broken left arm and left femur, the autopsy showed. 

According to initial reports, Phung committed his alleged crime at his home on Tuesday noon when he was quarreling with his de facto wife, 15-year-old Trinh Hoang Bao L., the boy’s mother, whose husband has been serving a sentence for a drug-related crime.

At that time, in a fit of anger because of Bo constantly crying, Phung strongly hit Bo's forehead with his hands and shook Bo strongly while firmly holding the boy in his hands.

Seeing the baby fainted after such crude acts, the couple took him to Ba Ria Hospital for emergency treatment, but doctors said the boy died before hospitalization.

Phung had lived with L. as husband and wife in the province’s Long Dien District since early May 2023 and the woman gave birth to Bo on May 20.

Earlier in October 2022, L.’s husband – the blood father of Bo – was arrested on charge of illegally possessing drugs and he was later given a jail term for the offense, local police said.

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