Dad who molested 3-year-old girl at age 12 now charged with felony battery against 8-month-old daughter (Indianapolis, Indiana)

It seems clear in retrospect that dad DAVID M. LIKENS should never have been allowed around kids again. At age 12, Likens molested a 3-year-old girl. Now he's charged with felony battery against his 8-month-old daughter, who has multiple bone fractures. Mom is charged with felony neglect for not seeking medical attention earlier, though it's never clear in these news articles whether she was able to do so.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20090904/NEWS02/909040379/Father+charged+in+hurting+his+8-month-old+baby

Father charged in hurting his 8-month-old baby
Daughter's fractures drew attention at hospital; as a youth, he molested a tot
By Jon Murray

Posted: September 4, 2009

An Indianapolis man involved in a notorious abuse case as an adolescent eight years ago was back in jail this week, accused of injuring his infant.

David M. Likens was 12 and the youngest of three brothers who took turns molesting a 3-year-old girl in August 2001 in their mobile home on Indianapolis' Southwestside. He also admitted to biting and striking her.

Now 21, Likens faced a new felony battery charge this week stemming from bone fractures suffered by his 8-month-old daughter, Shayla, on her lower legs, a forearm and two ribs.

Prosecutors say Likens picked the baby up by yanking her limbs, based on doctors' assessments.
"He treated this little 8-month-old as a rag doll," said Mario Massillamany, the Marion County prosecutor's spokesman and father of a young son. "They're extremely fragile. . . . No normal person would treat a baby in this manner."

If convicted, Likens could face six to 20 years in prison. He was being held in jail Thursday on $50,000 bond, due to appear in Marion Superior Court this morning.

His wife, Dina L. Williams, 20, is charged with felony neglect, accused of failing to seek medical treatment for an earlier injury, and misdemeanor criminal recklessness. She was being held on $30,000 bond.

They took Shayla to Riley Hospital for Children on Aug. 13, according to a probable cause affidavit. Her injuries raised suspicion, prompting police and child services to be called.

Williams told police Likens was rough with Shayla "because he didn't know his own strength," the affidavit says. He said he treated her gently.

In the 2001 case, the boys' mother, Ivy Likens, then 42, received seven years in prison for neglect because she was supposed to be baby-sitting the girl and her siblings. Likens left them alone with her boys -- even though Wayne, 17, had been convicted twice of child molesting.

He was sentenced as an adult to 20 years in prison. Another brother, then 15, was found delinquent as a juvenile for criminal deviate conduct.

A judge found David Likens delinquent for child molesting, and he was in a treatment facility, the Indiana Department of Correction and a group home until he was 18.

The Indianapolis Star generally does not identify juvenile offenders and victims of sexual assaults.

A lawyer who represented the girl's family in a suit against the Likenses said Thursday that the incident's fallout is felt today. The parents split up and no longer have custody of the girl, Robert Johnson said.

"The family fell apart completely," he said, adding that Likens' new case wasn't surprising. "It just blows my mind that this boy procreated."