A Thai couple questioned the account given by babysitters after their six year old son died while in the care of another couple at a flat in Lak Si district of Bangkok on Wednesday, September 23.
Officers from Tung Song Hong Police Station and rescue workers from the Ruam Katanyu Foundation investigated the child’s death at the Chaeng Wattana Housing Estate in Soi Chaeng Wattana 14, Lak Si district, at around 6pm on Wednesday.
The child’s 26 year old parents and the couple hired to care for him were at the scene. An initial examination found marks behind the child’s ear and on his lips, as well as bruising around his eye sockets.
The boy’s body was sent to the forensic medicine department at Chulabhorn Hospital to establish the cause of death.
The parents said they paid another couple 7,000 baht per month to care for their son after they returned to work following three months of maternity leave.
The mother said she dropped her son off at the flat at about 8am and collected him at around 9pm on working days. She said nothing appeared unusual during the three months the couple cared for him.
According to the parents, the carers told them that the boy liked to sleep face-down and sent them photographs of him sleeping.
The carers called the parents at around 4pm on September 23 and said the child was not breathing. The mother rushed to the flat and found the couple performing CPR, but her son had already turned blue.
The female carer, identified only as Joe, said she had fallen asleep with the child while her husband went out to buy food.
Joe said her husband returned and found the boy lying face-down on the bed with a towel tightly wrapped around his neck.
She said they removed the towel and found that the child had defecated on the bed. The boy was pale and not breathing, so they called the rescue team and performed CPR. The child died before the ambulance arrived.
The parents said they did not fully believe the carers’ account but could not accuse them of causing the death. They said they would wait for the autopsy results.
The carers also raised concerns about injuries they claimed they had noticed on the child when he was dropped off that morning.
According to Joe, she and her husband questioned the parents about the marks. The parents reportedly said the injuries had been caused by toys or mosquito bites. Joe claimed some of the marks looked like cigarette burns.
No charges had been filed against anyone at the time of the report. The child’s cause of death remains under investigation pending the forensic examination.
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