Dad arrested after abducting 18-month-old daughter, sexually assaulting/beating mother (Decatur, Georgia)

Dad STEFFON L. CLARK has been charged with child abuction, home invasion, and criminal sexual assault after he "allegedly" broke into his ex-partner's home, beat her and raped her, and then abducted their 18-month-old daughter. Seems Daddy also told Mom that he had a gun and would start shooting if she called the police.

So I suppose the fathers rights people will build this up into some great drama about a father's desire to spend time with his child. Actually, if you read up on these kinds of cases (parental abductions involving violence) they tend to end in one of two ways: The child is either killed or abandoned. So much for the quality daddy-child bonding time theory. In this case, this child was "lucky" in that she was abandoned in the commons area of an apartment complex.

http://www.herald-review.com/news/local/article_f313f5f1-cef6-5300-b6e4-794e1b853f0b.html

Man arrested after allegedly abducting daughter, sexually assaulting her mother
By HUEY FREEMAN - H&R Staff Writer Posted: Wednesday, March 3, 2010 3:01 am

DECATUR - A 24-year-old Decatur man who sparked an Amber Alert when he allegedly abducted an 18-month-old girl Sunday was formally charged with child abduction, home invasion and criminal sexual assault.

Steffon L. Clark, who is being held in the Macon County Jail under a $250,000 bond, was declared indigent and assigned a public defender. He appeared before Associate Judge James Coryell at a Monday morning arraignment hearing.

Clark was the object of a police manhunt that began at 8:04 a.m. Sunday, when a woman told police he had broken into her home, sexually assaulted her and taken her 18-month daughter. Clark is the father of the baby, but does not have custodial rights or live with the mother.

He was arrested at 11:45 a.m. Sunday at the Timber Cove apartment complex. Shortly before the arrest, Clark left the baby in a common area of the complex. He called an acquaintance, told her where the baby was and asked her to return her to her mother. The infant was returned unharmed.

The incident began when Clark crawled through an open window of the mother's home in the 700 block of Cassell Court, according to an arrest warrant request filed by Decatur Police Detective David Pruitt on Sunday.

The warrant stated Clark punched the woman in the face as she lay on her bed, followed her into her bathroom, pulled her by her hair onto the bed and sexually assaulted her. He then took the baby and drove away. Clark told the woman that he had a gun and would begin shooting if he saw the police. He called the woman while police were at her home and threatened to shoot himself in front of the baby.

After the baby was located, police found Clark hiding among storage containers on the second level of the apartment complex.

Clark is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing March 17 at the Macon County Courts Facility.