A Chinese man has been arrested for trying to kill his newborn baby three times with the help of the child’s grandfather. According to the Deccan Chronicle, the father has been detained while the grandfather was released pending trial.

“We thought we would have a girl. But soon we were told the ‘girl’ is actually a boy, with an atrophic sex organ. We panicked and got concerned,” the child’s mother, Yang Xiaoqing, told the newspaper. She said the father tried to kill the baby because “he is neither a boy nor a girl”, but a “monster.”

The man tried to smother the infant with a wet towel the first time but was stopped by his wife. Three days later the man made a second attempt to smother the child using a wet towel, diapers and a blanket. Again, his wife discovered him in the act and stopped him.

“He could not bear to kill his own flesh and blood after all, and my father-in-law took over,” Yang said. The grandfather took the baby and abandoned it outside of the village. The child was quickly found by authorities, but his mother remains worried.

“After he was found, he did not eat for 12 hours. I was holding the baby. My heart is broken. He may be a monster to others, but to me, he is and will always be my sweetest baby,” she said.