A 33-year-old man in Hiroshima Prefecture was arrested Saturday on suspicion of attempted murder for allegedly beating his 5-month-old son so hard that his skull cracked.

Masashi Ota allegedly beat the infant because he was "irritated that the baby wouldn't stop crying," police said.

He admitted beating the baby but denied that he intended to kill him, police said.

The beatings allegedly took place between June 3 and June 6, causing the baby to be hospitalized for a month.

Hiroshima police took Ota, who is unemployed, into custody for attempted murder because investigators believed he could have predicted the assault might end up killing the baby.