"Caring" dad rips baby's mouth with bottle; was trying to "arrange regular visits" (Oxford, England, United Kingdom)

Just the coddling one typically sees of abusive English fathers...This time the coddled deadbeat daddy is STEPHEN WRIGHT. Notice that he was no longer with the baby's mother, but was trying to "arrange regular visits." We need to stop seeing sperm donors as worthy baby minders. They're not. And notice that this guy apparently has a criminal history, though we're not told what it is.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9181597.Dad_ripped_tot___s_gum_with_bottle/

Dad ripped tot’s gum with bottle
10:00am Saturday 6th August 2011

A FATHER who rammed a feeding bottle into his baby daughter’s mouth, causing a rip in her mouth, has been given a community order.

Stephen Wright was looking after his eight-month-old child when she woke screaming at 5am.

In what he called “a momentary loss of self-control”, the 21-year-old forced a bottle into the girl’s mouth, tearing her frenulum – the skin between her top lip and gum.

Wright, whose address was given in court as Druce Way, Blackbird Leys, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

The Oxford Mail successfully applied to lift reporting restrictions, which would have banned us from stating the relationship between Wright and the victim, but we have chosen not to name his daughter.

In his basis of plea, the defendant said: “At 5am on April 27 (2010), (my daughter) awoke crying, I awoke and was very tired.

“I tried to feed her a bottle. In a momentary lapse of self-control I forced the bottle into her mouth, after which the injury was caused and she started to bleed.”

Hilary Neville, prosecuting, said the child’s 18-year-old mother, who had separated from Wright, had left him to care for the girl at her house in Cowley while she visited relatives.

Miss Neville said Wright took his daughter to a doctor the next day, but said the GP was “concerned about what she said was the defendant’s rough handling of the baby when he changed her nappy”.

The doctor booked an appointment with a paediatrician at the John Radcliffe Hospital, but Wright and his former partner failed to attend, at which point the police were informed.

Wright’s basis of plea continued: “I retreat my actions and I’m very sorry for the injury caused. I love my daughter very much.”

Sumita Mahtab-Shaikh, defending, said her client, who has two “unrelated” previous convictions, was going through a difficult time.

She said: “It was an extremely difficult time for him to accept this, but he has.”

Miss Mahtab-Shaikh said the couple were “young, unexpected parents two months into their relationship”. She added: “Apart from one reckless loss of self-control, he is a caring father.”

The court heard unemployed Wright had not seen his daughter since June, but was trying to arrange regular visits.

Judge Anthony King said: “Parenting is a responsible and sometimes a difficult job. On this occasion you were not up to it.”

“This was a single incident, it was not an incident where you set out to harm the child and it was borne of short temper and the stress of being an inexperienced parent.”

Wright was given a year-long community order with 12 months’ supervision.