Abusive Father Gets Short 6-Month Prison Sentence for Breaking 20 of His Infant Daughter’s Bones
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![Ryan General](https://nextshark.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ns.jpg?width=128&auto_optimize=medium&quality=85)
By Ryan General
Richard Root, a 21-year-old father from Wisconsin, will be spending just six months in prison for deliberately breaking 20 of his 2-month-old baby daughter’s bones and causing bleeding in her brain.
Circuit Judge Thomas Gritton handed Root a seven-year probationary and a six-month prison sentence in Winnebago County Court last week, according to WFMY. Root, who was arrested in March on a more serious count of child abuse, pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of neglecting a child during a court hearing in August.
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According to the authorities, the father-of-two shook his infant daughter and knelt on her legs while changing her diaper on March 10, breaking 20 of her bones and causing a brain hemorrhage in the process. The baby’s mother was reportedly at work at the time of the attack.
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Doctors at the Aurora Medical Center, where the baby was initially rushed to, found that she sustained nine broken ribs, a broken arm and leg, injuries to her face and multiple brain bleeds. She was later brought to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin for treatment before she was released to a family member.
Root’s initial sentencing in November almost allowed him to avoid prison entirely, with the judge awarding him only seven years probation.
His new sentence included a no-contact order for his daughter and another child, a newborn son from his newlywed wife, MailOnline reported. Judge Gritton also prohibited Root from using alcohol or drugs, and ordered him to undergo counseling while keeping a job or attending school full time.
Upon police questioning, Root claimed that he “snapped” due to stress and a lack of sleep. He also demonstrated on a doll how he clutched his baby daughter by the chest area and asked her why she was crying while shaking her violently.
Feature Image via WFMY (Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office) / Facebook
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