US father given 16-year jail term for child neglect after rat attack on baby

An Indiana man convicted of child neglect after a rat attack left his six-month-old son with disfiguring injuries has been sentenced to the maximum 16 years in prison.

A judge sentenced David Schonabaum, 32, after the Evansville man was convicted by a jury in September on three felony counts of neglect of a dependent.

Vanderburgh County Superior Court Judge Robert Pigman found no mitigating factors to reduce the sentence, the Evansville Courier & Press reported.

Prosecutor Diana Moers previously said her office would not hold back in pursuing the “highest possible sentence”.

Evansville police arrested Schonabaum and his wife, Angel Schonabaum, in September 2023 after he called 911 to report that his six-month-old son had been severely injured by rats inside their residence.

The Indiana Department of Child Services had previously inquired about conditions in the home.

Investigators said the infant suffered more than 50 rat bites and required treatment at an Indianapolis hospital.

An Evansville police detective wrote in the affidavit that the four fingers and thumb on the child’s right hand “were missing the flesh from the top of them, exposing fingertip bones”.

After a jury convicted Schonabaum in September, Ms Moers said paramedics and police had found “the infant was lying in his crib in a pool of blood and the bites were so bad on his body − including his face, mouth, and extremities − that they left bone showing on one hand and he is now permanently disfigured”.

Angel Schonabaum, 29, pleaded guilty to felony neglect charges in September, days before she was scheduled to stand trial. Her sentencing is set for October 24.