Mom apologizes for beating

last updated 8 January 2015

Mishawaka, Ind.

An Indiana woman caught on videotape repeatedly slapping her 4-year-old daughter said this week she lost control because she was having a “bad day.” Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 25, said she was “horrified” to see the nationally broadcast footage, which showed her angrily striking her daughter, Martha, as the girl got into a parked vehicle. “I look like a monster,” she said, crying. The girl has been placed in foster care. Toogood faces a child-abuse charge that could bring three years in prison. Defense lawyer Steven Rosen said there would be no point fighting the charge, other than to ask the court for mercy. “I’m confronted with a videotape that shows Attila the Hun,” he said, “no question about it.”