Dad indicted in beating of 8-week-old son (Cobb County, Georgia)

Dad is identified as JOSEPH RUCKER MCFALL.

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/21872390/ga-man-indicted-in-beating-of-8-week-old-boy

Father indicted in beating of 8-week-old son

By Justin Gray, FOX 5 reporter

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A Cobb County grand jury has indicted a man for beating his infant child so severely that the baby has permanent brain damage.

Joseph Rucker McFall, 30, is charged with two counts of child cruelty and two counts of aggravated battery for allegedly shaking and throwing his son between August and October 2012.

Prosecutors say that the beatings left the 8-week-old child with fractures to the ribs and arms as well as an acute brain injury that is believed to have blinded the child.

The baby's mother -- McFall's wife – said that she was in the hospital for pneumonia. She said that her mother was helping to care for the baby. She said that McFall was in the room alone with the child and then suddenly rushed out of the house. A few minutes later, the baby's grandmother found the child not breathing and called 911.

"No one wanted to tell me because he was on his death bed. Basically my son was on his death bed. They didn't think he was going to make it," said the mother, who asked not to be identified.

The mother said that she doesn't want her child around McFall ever again.

"I hate him right now, to be honest. I have a lot of anger and I despise him at the moment. I never want him around my son again," she said.

McFall has several tattoos on his face. His wife says that face tattoo is supposed to paraphrase scripture in Hebrew and read "God has his eye on you."

"Your first instinct should be to take care of your child and to look after your child and I left my child in good hands when I went to the hospital. I never would suspect that he would do something like that," she said.

The baby's mother says she trusted her husband with his own son. She said she now believes McFall is behind the terrible injuries the young baby will be dealing with the rest of his life.

"I trusted him because who wouldn't trust the father of their child," she said.

McFall has been held in the Cobb County Jail since October when police first arrested him on child cruelty charges. The grand jury handed down their indictment last week.

McFall's attorney told FOX 5's Justin Gray that his client is adamant that he did nothing to intentionally harm his child.