Crime & Safety

OC Dad Sentenced to Prison for Torturing Infant Son

A hidden camera caught Joshua Allen Robey, 26, of Costa Mesa punching, strangling, shaking and trying to suffocate his 2-month-old son.

A Costa Mesa man caught on hidden camera torturing his 2-month-old son was sentenced Friday to 13 years to life in state prison, the Orange County district attorney's office reported.

Joshua Allen Robey, 26, was convicted in August of attempted murder, torture and child abuse for swinging his 2-month-old son around by the neck with a blanket as well as punching, strangling and shaking the infant while babysitting him in October 2011.

After suspecting Robey was cheating on her, the baby's mother set up a hidden video camera which caught Robey beating, strangling, hanging and swinging their son from a noose-like nursing blanket and placing five pieces of tape over the baby's nose and mouth.

The 55-minute video also showed Robey yelling "boo" in the baby's face as he lay on the bed, and repeatedly attacking his infant son by smashing his face into a pillow and pounding on his chest several times.

Between the beatings Robey watched television and talked to a friend on the phone.

The baby suffered fractured ribs, bleeds to the brain and liver injuries, Daphne Wong, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Orange County, testified at Robey's trial.

In March 2006 Robey was charged with injuring another one of his children, the D.A. reported. Robey pleaded guilty to felony injury to a child in Kerrville, Texas for violently shaking his 1-month-old son because he was "fussy and wouldn't take the bottle."

Does the punishment fit the crime? Tell us in the comments.

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