Dad pleads no contest to abusing 9-month-old daughter (Hamburg Township, Michigan)

Dad ROBERT GEORGE ALBERT sounds like a total sociopath, totally devoid of any empathy for any other human being. This wasn't some "frustrated" jerk who "snapped. This guy SYSTEMATICALLY tormented this baby for his own amusement. Sick...

No sign of a mother in this account. Wonder whether Daddy pulled all his sh** during some kind of custody/visitation arrangement. Of course there is no clarification here.

http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20131103/NEWS01/311030020?odyssey=mod%7Cmostcom

Father enters plea to abusing infant

Nov. 2, 2013 11:12 PM

Written by Lisa Roose-Church Daily Press & Argus

A Hamburg Township father accused of intentionally twisting and shaking his then-9-month-old daughter has entered a plea to child abuse.

Robert George Albert, 27, was initially charged with first-degree child abuse, but he pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of third-degree child abuse of his infant daughter.

A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such at sentencing, which is set for Dec. 12.

At an earlier hearing, witnesses testified that Albert would intentionally twist and shake the 9-month-old infant, whom he also dropped on the couch.

The infant was undergoing a routine examination in May when medical personnel discovered possible injuries.

Dr. Bethany Mohr, director of the Child Protection Team at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, testified that the infant suffered “multiple fractures” and hemorrhaging in her eyes that were indicative of child abuse.

Kyle Amwake, who said he has been friends with Albert since high school, described Albert as a man who enjoyed toying with his infant daughter just to hear her cry. He said Albert would pull a bottle out of his daughter’s mouth during feeding and then replace it, only to pull it out again because he wanted to hear her cry. He said the defendant called the infant a “greedy baby” as he toyed with her.

Amwake testified that Albert placed his hands on his daughter’s shoulders and shook her, causing her head to wobble back and forth. The infant made “whoop” sounds, which Amwake described as an American Indian sound associated with the childhood game of Indian when a child taps fingers against an open mouth while making noise.

Amwake also described incidents when Albert would put his daughter in “stress positions.” He described this as Albert intentionally placing the infant’s ankles next to her head and pushing her knees onto her chest. He said Albert claimed he was helping his daughter “stretch,” and that it was what he was “supposed to do.”

“He would crush all the air out of her,” Amwake testified. “She was silent, and when he stopped, she would cry her eyes out. It was disturbing. … It was not a normal baby cry. It was absolute agony and pain, crying her eyes out.”