Dad gets 2 years for nearly strangling his 2-year-old son to death (Palm Bay, Florida)

Dad MIGUEL ALEJANDRO TORRES DE LA ROSA lived separately from the mother of his two children. But she had a job and needed childcare, so she dropped off the kids with Dad. Dad, like too many men drafted in toddler care, blew a gasket when his son dirtied a diaper right after being changed. So this piece of sh-- tied a belt around the boy's neck and started strangling him. Miraculously, Dad didn't kill the boy, but the child had swollen eyes and marks around his neck when Mom came by to fetch him after work.

In this case, the courts seem to finally be getting it right. Daddy Dearest will be stripped of his parental rights, though he still will not be doing any real prison time, just 2 years and 13 years of probation after pleading guilty to 2nd-degree felony aggravated child abuse.

We need to stop pretending that all daddies, or even most daddies, are great caretakers of young children. They aren't. And the record proves it.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091127/NEWS01/911270328/1006/Man+gets+2+years+in+attack+on+toddler+son

Man gets 2 years in attack on toddler son
Child abuse conviction also means relinquishing parental rights
BY KEYONNA SUMMERS • FLORIDA TODAY • November 27, 2009

A judge sentenced a Palm Bay man to two years in prison for strangling his toddler son nearly to death over a soiled diaper.

As part of a deal with prosecutors, Miguel Alejandro Torres de la Rosa, 24, also will serve 13 years on probation after pleading guilty to second-degree felony aggravated child abuse in connection with the March 13 incident.

He gave up his parental rights to the 2-year-old and a 4-year-old daughter, prosecutors said.
Palm Bay police said the mother, Jacinda Morrison, dropped off the children to stay with Torres de la Rosa while she went to work.

Authorities said Torres de la Rosa tied a belt around the boy's neck and began strangling him after the boy dirtied his diaper shortly after being changed.

The man denied doing anything wrong when he returned the child to Morrison that evening with swollen eyes and marks around his neck, police said.

He owes about $550 in court fines and fees and has received credit for the 81/2 months in jail awaiting prosecution, court records show.

Morrison said she believed the sentence was lenient, but preferred it to the children having to testify against their father.

Both are in counseling and Torres de la Rosa can have no contact with them, she said.

"It feels like he gets to walk away from it . . . and my kids don't because they're always thinking about it," said Morrison, 25, also of Palm Bay.

"For the safety of the children, yes, I'm glad he did sign his rights over because now we don't have to deal with something else."