Abusive Father Gets Short 6-Month Prison Sentence for Breaking 20 of His Infant Daughter’s Bones

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.

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.

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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