McKees Rocks man accused of nearly beating 3-week-old daughter to death
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A McKees Rocks man already awaiting trial for allegedly burning his infant son now is accused of beating his 3-week-old daughter nearly to death.
Robert Andrews, 33, faces two counts of aggravated assault and one count of child endangerment in connection with a March 12 incident that left the infant in critical condition with severe head trauma, according to a criminal complaint.
“This is a near-fatality,” according to the medical assessment police cited.
Police responded to Andrews’ home on Woodward Avenue shortly before 3 a.m. March 12, according to the complaint. The infant was unconscious and not breathing.
Andrews told police he and his infant daughter visited his wife in St. Clair Hospital the night of March 11 and returned home between 11 and 11:30 p.m., according to the complaint. He said he gave her 3 ounces of formula, then wrapped her in a blanket and laid her on the couch while he went to smoke a cigarette.
Andrews said he came back and tapped the child on her side, police wrote, and then picked her up when she didn’t respond. He told police he unwrapped her and her arm fell to her side.
Andrews’ mother, who was on the second floor of the home, began CPR while Andrews called police, according to the complaint.
The 3-week-old was taken to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in critical condition.
Police quoted a medical assessment of the child in the complaint: “These injuries are due to trauma. There has been no history of trauma given by caretakers. Given the constellation of injuries (she) has been the victim of physical child abuse, specifically abusive head trauma. Her injuries caused temporary and likely permanent impairment, as well as substantial pain. This is a near-fatality.”
Andrews was charged in 2018 with allegedly abusing his then-4-month-old son. The child was taken to the emergency room in May 2018 with second-degree burns to his face, neck and chest, according to the criminal complaint.
Doctors also found bruises on his legs and forehead, injuries to his mouth and abdomen, and several broken ribs, police said.
Andrews told police he’d gone to the child’s mother’s house to watch the infant while she slept, according to the complaint. He said that for some amount of time — he told police at least two TV shows went by — he was holding the child up against his bare chest.
Later, after the child threw up, Andrews told police he was washing the infant in the sink when he noticed peeling skin on his face, according to the complaint. He said he rubbed the skin, which peeled off. He told detectives the child was happy and not in pain.
Andrews told police he believed the child might have had a reaction to his “cheap deodorant,” as the child’s head was against his armpit while they watched television, according to the complaint. He said he had no explanation for his son’s other injuries, and he was charged in August 2018 with aggravated assault and child endangerment.
A jury trial in that case is scheduled for June. A preliminary hearing for the latest charges is scheduled for April 21.