The father of a two-month-old girl who has been charged for beating her to death has blamed the incident that left the girl with broken limbs and ribs on his cat.

Thirty-nine-year-old Kristopher Henderson allegedly beat his two-month-old daughter so badly that she was left with broken ribs, limbs and bleeding on the brain in the city of Mankato in the US state of Minnesota, reported Law and Crime yesterday, 24th November.

An investigation into Henderson was launched shortly after the tot’s mother took her severely injured daughter to a nearby hospital in the evening on Thursday, 23rd September.

The doctors at the facility were shocked by the condition of the tot, so she was transferred to a health centre in Rochester.

The doctor diagnosed the tot with broken legs, several broken ribs and bleeding on the brain. After several weeks at the clinic, the infant died on 3rd November.

The police have since charged Henderson and have interviewed the tot’s mother, who was not named, who claims she was at work when her daughter sustained the fatal injuries.

The mother said her daughter was well when she left for work that morning, but she received a text from her husband at about 5.00 pm saying that their 19-pound pet cat had sat on the infant. However, he did not advise her to return home.

She finished her shift and got home and found that her daughter’s eyes appeared “bulged out”, so she called the police.

She then spoke to her mother about the child’s condition before taking her to the hospital at around 7.00 pm.

Henderson was subsequently interviewed by the cops and initially said he had no clue what had happened to his daughter before trying to pin it all on the cat.

The doctors quickly refuted the story and said that there was no way the cat could have inflicted the sort of injuries that led to the tot’s death.

The police pressed Henderson again, and he finally told them he might have been “a little rough” with his daughter while changing her nappy.

The questioning continued, and on 1st October, Henderson told the cops that at the time of the incident, he “cradled the child face down in his arms and struck her back more forcefully than usual”.

He added that his forceful treatment of her lasted some five minutes, after which he hit the infant with enough force to shatter her ribs.

Henderson has been charged with first-degree manslaughter while committing malicious punishment of a child and second-degree murder without intent while committing a felony. His bond was set at USD 1 million (GBP 751,00).

The investigation is ongoing.