A young mother has been charged with murder after allegedly pushing her two-year-old son into a canal in Nonathaburi.
The 21-year-old woman, whose name was withheld, was apprehended on Monday shortly after the body of her son was pulled from Khlong Tonnun canal in Bang Bua Thong district, Thai media reported.
The boy, 2, had drowned at least three hours before his death was reported to police on Monday afternoon.
Local police examined footage from closed-circuit television cameras nearby. A camera at a housing estate captured a woman holding the a boy's hand while crossing a bridge over the canal at around noon on Monday. Another CCTV camera showed her walking back alone half an hour later.
Police tracked down the woman and arrested her in Bang Bua Thong as she was waiting for a bus, apparently to evade arrest.
Under interrogation, she reportedly confessed that had killed her son, saying she was under stress. She told police she was a company employee and had to take care of her child alone, having long since separated from her husband.
She initially put her son into a relative's care - it was unclear whether it was her mother or her grandmother - and gave her money for expenses. But on several occasions when the two argued, she said, the elderly woman brought her son to her workplace, causing her great stress.
The young mother was charged with murder and remanded in custody.
