Babysitting dad arrested for abusing 5-month-old son; baby has fractured skull (Stokes County, North Carolina)

Dad KEVIN ZERBA was minding the baby while Mom worked. Wonder if Daddy even has a job. ...

Apparently his was not the first time Daddy had injured the baby. Just the first time it was life threatening. A lot of these guys just don't have the patience or ability to deal with infants and small children. And yet we insist that they take over the homefront--even as most of them refuse to do housework--while the mothers earn a paycheck. Insane. 

http://www.wxii12.com/news/30083977/detail.html


Deputies Arrest Stokes Co. Dad On Child Abuse Charge
Authorities Say Toddler Had Bruises, Skull Fracture

POSTED: 5:46 pm EST December 27, 2011
UPDATED: 6:16 pm EST December 27, 2011


STOKES COUNTY, N.C. -- Authorities said a 22-year-old Stokes County man has been charged with abusing his son.

The child's mother, Jennifer Daehnke, said she was at work last Dec. 4 when she received a call that her 5-month-old son, Payton, had been injured.

"There's no preparing yourself for something like that," Daehnke said.

Officials said the boy's father, 22-year-old Kevin Zerba, had taken the child to the hospital, but doctors called the Stokes County Sheriff's Department after they found the baby's injuries to be suspicious.

"Baptist Hospital advised our investigators that the child had injuries that were non-accidental trauma injuries, and those injuries ranged from bruises to a skull fracture," said Capt. Jeff Lemons of the Stokes County Sheriff's Department.

Zerba was arrested and charged with felony child abuse and inflicting serious injury, deputies said. The child, meanwhile, was taken away by the Department of Social Services.

Investigators said there is evidence that it wasn't the first time the child had been hurt.


"Some (injuries) were fairly current and some were in the healing process, so it was over a period of time," Lemons said.

Daehnke said there were never any signs of abuse, and she attributed the small bruises to the child's clumsy baby ways.

"I thought that they were coming from when he started to move around. He throws his feet and his hands and everything, so I thought he had hit himself," Daehnke said.

Daehnke said her son was fussy at some points, but she thought he may be teething so she gave him Tylenol. Doctors said the medicine may have helped the toddler deal with the pain of internal injuries.

"Sometimes I do wish that someone would do to (Zerba) what he did to Payton," Daehnke said.

Daehnke said the worst part is not having her son in her arms and missing his first Christmas, among other things.

"He's laughed for the first time (while) he's been gone. He's touched his feet and he's very close to rolling over, and those firsts are things that you can't get back," Daehnke said.