NASHUA, N.H. (AP) – Questioned by police about his baby’s 17 broken bones, Jose Meza said he squeezed, shook and twisted his newborn daughter until they snapped because she wouldn’t stop crying.

At his arraignment on Friday, Meza, 25, asked for another chance to take care of his baby.

“Not only are you not going to get a chance to take care of the baby, you’re not going to see the baby,” Judge James Leary said.

Meza was charged with three counts of first-degree assault, each carrying a seven-to-15-year sentence. Bail was set at $100,000 and Meza was ordered to stay away from the baby, who is in state custody. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Nov. 23.

“The doctor who checked the child yesterday said it was the worst case of child abuse that he had seen,” Sgt. Tim Goulden said at the arraignment.

According to a police affidavit, Meza confessed to abusing his 3-month-old daughter as early as a month after her birth, shaking her because she wouldn’t stop crying.

Later, “When the baby would not stop crying, he held the baby very tight against his chest and squeezed her … until he heard bones breaking,” the affidavit said.

Meza also had trouble dressing his daughter. “He then pulled her arm aggressively through the sleeve. He heard the arm break,” it said of an October incident. When the baby’s arm started swelling, Meza and the baby’s mother, 17-year-old Latoya Jackson, drove to Mexico for treatment, fearing criminal charges in the United States, according to the affidavit.

Police said Mexican doctors put the baby’s arm in a sling and told them to follow up with an American doctor. Returning home Nov. 5, police said the couple threw the sling away.

Police said Meza broke his daughter’s legs on Monday when she fussed during a diaper change: “Out of frustration he held the baby’s right leg down and then took the left leg and twisted it until he heard the bones break,” said the affidavit.

Meza is a Mexican citizen and his immigration status is unclear.

Jackson, was charged with lying about the injuries, endangering the welfare of a child, and hindering the arrest of Meza. She was released on $2,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 30.

Jackson’s sister, Jennifer Dorval, said Meza was an attentive father and doubted he was capable of hurting his daughter so badly. She also refused to believe Jackson would allow the abuse to continue.

“She was always overprotective of her,” Dorval told The Union Leader. “She wouldn’t even let anybody baby-sit the baby. The baby was always with her.”

Sgt. Andrew Lavoie said Meza and Jackson took the baby to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center on Wednesday at the urging of Jackson’s mother, Joyce Dorval.

Police said Jackson told them that the baby was injured after falling off a bed and being dropped by a 4-year-old relative.

X-rays showed 17 fractures to the legs, arms, ribs and collarbone in various stages of healing. The baby is being treated at Children’s Hospital in Boston and was in fair condition; she is expected to recover.

“As far as the abuse continuing I have nothing to show that it would not have stopped if there was no intervention,” Lavoie said. “(She had) broken bones for several months,” he said. “One can only imagine how the baby feels.”

AP-ES-11-12-04 1527EST