UPDATE:On March 29 at the Kent Regional Justice Center, Federal Way resident Sean Patrick A. Madigan, 27, pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault of a child and first-degree criminal mistreatment. He remains in jail.

Original report

Federal Way resident Sean Patrick A. Madigan, 27, was charged with second-degree assault of a child and first-degree criminal mistreatment on March 12.

He is accused of causing severe bodily injury that triggered bruising and internal bleeding in his 4-year-old daughter, according to charging papers. Alleged abuse to the child took place between Nov. 1, 2009, and March 2, 2010.

Police were called to Seattle Children’s Hospital on March 4. Hospital personnel noticed several bruises on the child. Further examination revealed internal bleeding, according to charging papers. A doctor concluded the child received her injuries during multiple occasions and speculated the child was a victim of physical abuse, documents show.

The girl’s injuries were caused in late February or early March, documents show. The child was punished by Madigan on Feb. 28 for not reciting the alphabet. The next day, she stayed home instead of going to daycare. She was again instructed by Madigan to recite the alphabet, but again refused, according to charging paperwork.

About midday, Madigan’s wife returned home from work when she received a call from Madigan. The child was vomiting and appeared lethargic and somewhat unresponsive. Madigan’s wife urged her husband to take the child to receive medical care; he refused to take her or allow his wife to do so, according to charging documents.

On March 2, an Auburn doctor notified Child Protective Services that she had seen the victim that day when the Madigans brought her to the clinic due to dehydration and vomiting. The doctor noticed a laceration under the girl’s tongue and extensive bruising to her back. She referred the Madigans to an emergency room to treat the child’s ailments. The doctor’s concern for the child grew when the parents refused to seek additional medical attention for their child, according to charging documents.

Police arrived at the Madigans’ home that same day to investigate the girl’s well-being. After interviewing the child and her parents, police determined that the child was ill, but discovered nothing that called for her removal from the home, according to charging documents. The visit was the second one conducted at the residence within a three-month timeframe.

CPS first alerted Federal Way police to the girl’s possible abuse in January when a counselor noticed the child had several bruises on her body. A detective investigated and saw bruises on the child’s face, arm, thigh, foot, shoulder, elbow and knee, according to charging papers. Some of the bruises were faint. Madigan explained away the bruises, according to charging documents. The child told police she incurred the marks when she threw a fit in the shower after she urinated on herself. No reason was found to remove the girl from her home, according to charging paperwork.

On March 3, a social worker with CPS demanded the couple bring their child to Seattle Children’s Hospital. On the way there, Madigan insisted on stopping to get his cell phone repaired, which took between 20 and 45 minutes, according to charging documents. Meanwhile, the girl continued to vomit while she waited in the vehicle, according to the documents.

On March 10, police were informed by a doctor that the injury to the child’s bowels and abdomen was due to a crushing trauma, such as blunt impact, possibly a punch or kick to the abdomen, according to charging documents. Had the injury been left untreated, the bowel would have become necrotic, which could have caused the death of the child, according to charging documents.

The doctor’s report came one day after Madigan’s wife left her husband and came to police to provide a statement about the child’s condition. She told police that on Feb. 28, she noticed bruises on the child, but was unsure how the girl obtained them. She told police that since November, she had witnessed her husband step on the child’s foot, grab her by the back of the neck to force her face toward a plate of food and, on several occasions, restrict the child’s breathing in an attempt to get her to stop crying.

Madigan is being held on a $250,000 bail. His arraignment is scheduled for March 24 at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.