Dad charged with shaking 3-month-old daughter (Franklin, North Carolina)

A very well-written news article. Seldom do reporters take the time to give the reader any background on Shaken Baby Syndrome, nor any information about the major perpetrators (dads).

In this case, dad JOSHUA NATHANIEL GRANT has been arrested on felony intentional child abuse for the violent shaking of his 3-month-old daughter.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100123/NEWS01/301230025

Macon man charged with shaking baby
By Jon Ostendorff • January 23, 2010

FRANKLIN — Authorities charged a Macon County man Friday with abuse after a 3-month-old girl was treated for injuries investigators believe occurred when she was violently shaken.

Joshua Nathaniel Grant, 22, of Topton, was arrested on felony intentional child abuse causing serious injury. He was in jail in lieu of $25,000 bond.

The injuries to the child include brain trauma and injury to her right eye, according to court papers. The warrant does not say Grant's relation to the child but she has his last name.

His court date is set for Feb. 11.

The child has been released from the hospital.

Sheriff Robert Holland declined comment on the case beyond details offered in court papers. He would not discuss whether Grant was the child's father.

“No matter what the situation is there is absolutely no acceptable excuse as to why a parent or anyone else would shake an infant,” he said. “Many of the symptoms are unable to be seen at the time of the actual assault. An infant is the most vulnerable of victims and these cases are very difficult to work because the child cannot speak and tell who hurt them.”

The case is at least the second in the region in the last year.

Authorities in Haywood County charged the father of a 5-week-old girl with abuse in September after the child was shaken so hard her brain slammed against her skull, destroying her retinal tissue and causing permanent damage to the part of the brain that controls sight.

About 1,400 cases of shaken-baby syndrome are reported each year nationwide, according to the Epilepsy Association of Central Florida, which hosts a Web site about the abuse.
One in four babies dies from the abuse. Most of the attackers are men and often they are the fathers of the victims.

Law enforcement officers across the country told the Associated Press last year that the economic recession and high unemployment has led to more cases of child abuse.

Some hospitals are seeing twice as many cases of shaken-baby syndrome, according to the April report.