A 28-year-old Montville man asked a New London Superior Court judge if he could have contact with two small children as she sentenced him to 30 months in prison Friday for assaulting the kids in February 2014.

Christopher Thibodeau had pleaded guilty in June to two counts of risk of injury to a minor.

Police said he beat two siblings, ages 2 and 4, with a piece of material from a train track and a plastic gun, causing significant bruising to their legs and buttocks.

Thibodeau is the biological father of one of the children.

He pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine, which indicated he doesn't agree with the state's allegations but does not want to risk a harsher sentence if convicted at trial.

"I did this not because I'm guilty, but because I didn't want my kids to be scrutinized on the stand," Thibodeau said.

Thibodeau will be on special parole for five years following his release from prison.

At the sentencing, he objected to the judge's order prohibiting him from having contact with the children, saying he doesn't want them to grow up fatherless, as he did.

Strackbein said he could go to family court and ask for supervised visits.

"Someone who wants to be in their children's lives doesn't commit these kind of crimes and doesn't use drugs," Strackbein said. "That's not a role model."  

According to prosecutor Theresa Anne Ferryman, the children's mother walked into the Norwich Police Department in February 2014 to complain that her boyfriend had beaten her children while caring for them.

The older child's teacher had noticed injuries on the child and contacted the state Department of Children and Families.

The older child said Thibodeau had inflicted the injuries, but the 2-year-old was unable to articulate who had harmed him.

Thibodeau has previous convictions for drunken driving, larceny and disorderly conduct, and his attorney, Jerome Paun, said he has suffered from a substance abuse problem for his whole adult life, but had managed to graduate from high school and become an electrician.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN