A Pennsylvania man has been charged with attempted homicide after he allegedly beat his fiancé's 2-year-old daughter because he thought the girl's upbringing had been too lenient.
Investigators say 24-year-old Brandon Bishop told officers the girl thought she was a princess. The Morning Call of Allentown reported Bishop admitted punching, kicking and choking the girl and picking her up by her hair and dropping her onto a concrete floor. The child was missing clumps of her hair, the Allentown newspaper reported.
According to a criminal complaint, Bishop said he didn't want to kill the girl. But he allegedly told police that when he was punching the girl, he felt like another person who may have been trying to kill her.
Bishop told police in addition to beating the child, he would "choke her or suffocate her by covering her mouth with his hands for 30 seconds to a minute," the Morning Call reported. He also said he used a metal spoon to hit her in the head.
The girl's mother, Candance Watts, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
Police said Watts admitted to investigators she knew Bishop was abusing her daughter from March 7 until May 18 and did nothing, according to court records.
Bishop is jailed in lieu of $300,000 bail.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
