Dad accused of slapping 4-month-old daughter free on $500 bail (Haverford, Massachusetts)

Oh yes, fathers are so picked on in Massachusetts (and elsewhere), aren't they. Dad YOHAN BATISTA PEREZ has been charged with slapping his 4-month-old daughter, leaving bruises that were substantiated. Daddy has even admitted hitting the baby because she was "fussing." What kind of moron slaps a baby for "fussing"? Note that this @$$hat is out on a puny $500 bail though. That's showing them how tough you are on father child abusers, isn't it?

http://www.eagletribune.com/punewshh/local_story_068031749.html?keyword=secondarystory

Published: March 09, 2010 03:17 am

Young dad accused of slapping baby free on $500 bail

By Paul Tennant
ptennant@eagletribune.com

HAVERHILL — A Haverhill man charged with slapping his 4-month-old daughter was released on $500 cash bail in Haverhill District Court yesterday.

Yohan Batista-Perez, 20, of 34 Hall St., is charged with assault and battery on a child causing injury. Judge Stephen Abany ordered Batista-Perez to return for a pretrial hearing March 29.

In the meantime, Abany ordered him not to have any contact with his daughter unless the family of the baby's mother permits it. The state Department of Children and Families removed the child from Batista-Perez's, home and she is now staying with the baby's mother.

Detective Andrea Fogarty wrote in her report filed with the court that she investigated the alleged abuse at the request of the Department of Children and Families. The baby's maternal grandmother became suspicious when she noticed bruising on the child's face, according to Fogarty.

The grandmother reported the matter to the Department of Children and Families, and that agency ordered that the child by examined.

Initially, both Batista-Perez and the baby's mother said the child was injured by the rails of her crib. A doctor at North Shore Children's Hospital who examined the baby, however, said that story was not credible.

On Friday night, according to Fogarty, Batista-Perez went to the police station and admitted he slapped the child the previous evening because she was being "fussy."

Assistant District Attorney Beth Margossian asked Abany to set bail at $2,500, calling that amount "more than reasonable."

Attorney April Der Boghosian, representing Batista-Perez, urged a lower bail. She said her client is a good worker. Batista-Perez is employed as a baker, according to the arrest log.

Abany went along with the lower bail, but he had some tough words for the defendant.

"You don't know how to be a father," he told him. Regarding any visits to his daughter, the judge said, "You have to obey whatever they (the mother's family) say," even if the baby's grandmother bars him from visiting the child.