Dad convicted of aggravated assault for breaking leg of 5-week-old son (Edmonton, Canada)

Dad CALE DOSSER has been convicted of aggravated assault for breaking the leg of his 5-week-old son during a diaper change. His sentence is weekends in jail.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2010/01/09/12402711-sun.html

Edmonton dad broke baby's leg

By TONY BLAIS, QMI Agency

The Edmonton Sun

A city dad convicted of aggravated assault for breaking the leg of his five-week-old son while changing the infant's diaper has been sentenced to jail on weekends.

Cale Dosser, 21, was yesterday handed a 90-day jail term, but was allowed to serve it intermittently at the Edmonton Remand Centre from Friday night to Sunday.

The Crown had sought a sentence of 15 to 18 months, however Court of Queen's Bench Justice Richard Marceau ruled a long jail term was "inappropriate" due to it being a single act committed in a "moment of frustration."

The judge also acknowledged Dosser had immediately told the mother the infant had been injured and said Dosser "had the child's best interest at heart."

Marceau rejected the defence pitch for a conditional sentence to be served in the community, saying some incarceration was called for because Dosser did not fully acknowledge responsibility for what he had done.

However, he said a weekend jail term was best since justice would not be served by Dosser not working.

The young dad was also put on probation for 12 months.

Dosser was convicted Oct. 28 after Marceau rejected his statement to police that the injury happened when the infant's fidgeting caused his right leg to come loose from his grasp as he held his ankles while changing him.

"On the whole of the evidence, I am satisfied that the accused used unreasonable force when changing the baby by, in some way, immobilizing the torso and twisting the child's right leg," said Marceau at the time.

Dosser was accused of breaking the femur of his son Preston's right leg on Feb. 7, 2007, while changing his diaper at the apartment he shared with the baby and the baby's mother, Jennifer Hayes.

Court heard Preston was born on Dec. 30, 2007, when Dosser was 19 and Hayes was 17. They never married, but the birth was planned.

The baby woke up about 2 a.m. and Hayes asked Dosser to change his diaper while she went to make some formula.

Dosser then told Hayes that while he was changing Preston, the infant made a strange motion with his right leg and he had heard a popping sound. The baby was taken to the Stollery Children's Hospital.

Medical experts testified Dosser's explanation was not possible and said the only way such a spiral fracture of the femur could have occurred was if one end of the bone was immobilized and the other end was pulled or twisted.