A dad who blamed the death of his two-month-old daughter on his pet cat has been jailed for 15 years.
Kristopher Henderson, 41, from Minnesota, US, pleaded guilty to unintentional second-degree murder in Blue Earth County District Court after his daughter died from horrific injuries in November 2021.
It was part of a plea which excluded the charges of manslaughter and malicious punishment of a child after the infant suffered life-changing injuries in September 2021.
Police were alerted to the suspect's house on September 24 after the two-month-old girl was admitted to hospital by her mum.
The child's mum stated the baby was left in the dad's company when she left for work that morning.
However, when she returned home her daughter's eyes looked like they were “bulged out” of her head, according to her mum.
She rushed her to a local hospital where medics were left stunned with her injuries.
Medics were shocked to find the girl with broken ribs, broken femurs, and a torn frenulum, which is part of the tongue, and brain haemorrhaging.
Mr Henderson told police their 20-pound cat had laid on the baby and caused the trauma.
However, a doctor stated that the severity of the injuries could not have been caused by a cat.
A probable cause statement said: "The 20-pound cat that father states was around the infant, is not the cause of these injuries."
The baby was put on a life-support machine after she had little brain activity and only a "grim" chance of recovery.
But when medics saw there was no chance of a proper recovery, doctors started unenviable talks with the mum about turning the child's life-support machine off.
A decision was reached and she was tragically pronounced dead on November 3, 2021.
The dad initially told investigators that he had no idea how his daughter sustained her injuries.
However, he eventually claimed that she was injured by the family’s cat.
After multiple police interviews, the dad finally admitted that he had cradled the baby “face down in his arms and struck her back more forcefully than usual for what he estimated was five minutes while trying to calm her down.”
According to the probable cause statement, officers asked Mr Henderson if he had struck the baby hard enough to break her ribs, which he admitted too.
In addition, Mr Henderson eventually admitted that he might have been “a little rough” with the infant when changing her diaper.
Mr Henderson had been in custody on a $1million (£800,00) bail since his arrest in October 2021.
