A 24-year-old father who dangled his baby daughter over a bannister and threatened to throw her down the stairs has been jailed for six months.
The Limerick man denied two charges at Limerick District Court of assaulting his daughter who was just short of her second birthday when the offences took place in July 2002.
The child's mother told the court that on July 16th the defendant, who was living with her at the time, was "cranky" because his daughter had woken him from his sleep.
The mother said he took his young daughter and hung her over the bannister and threatened to throw her down the stairs.
On July 24th the infant was crying in the kitchen when her father came in and slapped her a few times in the side of the head.
"He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up three flights of stairs," said the mother.
The defendant then threw the child on a bed and closed the door, the court heard.
The child's mother said she could hear a muffled sound and she knew her partner was blocking her daughter's mouth with his hand "because she had heard that sound before".
The witness said the defendant had hit the child on other occasions and any time she asked him to stop he would hit her twice as hard.
During cross-examination by Insp Séamus Gallagher, the defendant said he had never hit his children and dismissed the allegations as "all lies".
When he was shown photographs of the little girl's injuries taken by a doctor who examined her, the accused said he "hadn't a clue what happened to her".
Dr Fionnuala Malone told the court that when she examined the little girl on July 25th, 2002, she observed a number of injuries including facial bruising near her left ear, bruising on her inner thigh and scratches on her shoulder blade.
Solicitor for the accused, John Cooke, said the accused had not had any more contact with the family since the offences.
Judge Tom O'Donnell sentenced the man to six months in prison on both charges and ordered that the jail terms run concurrently.