Child abuse
[Representational image]Creative Commons

A man has been jailed for 17 years for punching an 18-month-old girl in the face and sending the video to her grandparents demanding money.

Deividas Subacius, 29, hit the toddler in the face, bruising her right eye and leaving her face swollen. The man from Badgeney Road, March in Cambridgeshire, England, shot a video of the assault on the minor and sent it to the girl's grandparents and threatened to harm her further if they did not pay him a ransom of £130 ($180.04), Metro reported.  

The girl's grandparents informed the police immediately and Subacius was arrested by the cops soon. He confessed to the crime before the Cambridge Crown Court. He admitted that he inflicted bodily harm to the 18-month-old and blackmailed her grandparents for money, reports said. On Friday, February 9, 2018, the accused was sentenced to 17 years.

Doctors, who carried out a physical examination of the girl, found eight healed fractures on her wrist, collarbone, femur, and ribs. 

"This is the worst case of physical abuse in a child that I have had to deal with in my entire career,"  detective constable Clemie Yaxley was quoted as saying by Metro.

"Had it not been for the grandparents acting in a protective manner the outcome would have been very different. I'm happy to say that the child is now being well cared for and has no significant lasting injuries as a result of this incident," Yaxley added.