IN RE: ANGELICA A. (2018)

Order of disposition, Family Court, Bronx County (Sarah P. Cooper, J.), entered on or about September 7, 2017, to the extent it brings up for review a fact-finding order, same court and Judge, entered on or about September 6, 2017, which found that respondent father neglected the subject child, unanimously affirmed, without costs.  Appeal from fact-finding order, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as subsumed in the appeal from the order of disposition.

The finding that the father neglected the subject child is supported by a preponderance of the evidence.  The record shows that the father inflicted excessive corporal punishment on the child by striking her with the handle of a sword on the back of her head while chasing her down a flight of stairs, causing her to sustain, among other things, cuts and lacerations on and around her ear, a concussion, and swelling to her right finger.  The child's out-of-court statements were sufficiently corroborated by the agency caseworker and hospital staff's observations of the child's injuries, photographs depicting the injuries, and medical records (see Matter of Tyson T. [Latoyer T.], 146 A.D.3d 669, 45 N.Y.S.3d 459 [1st Dept. 2017];  Matter of Harrhae Y. [Shy–Macca Ernestine B.], 112 A.D.3d 512, 977 N.Y.S.2d 22 [1st Dept. 2013] ).  Although the child's repetition of the same allegations that the father hit her in the back of the head with the sword handle did not provide corroboration for the out-of-court statements, the consistency of her reported statements enhanced her credibility (see Matter of David R. [Carmen R.], 123 A.D.3d 483, 484, 998 N.Y.S.2d 182 [1st Dept. 2014] ).

There exists no basis to disturb the court's credibility determinations (see Matter of Irene O., 38 N.Y.2d 776, 777, 381 N.Y.S.2d 865, 345 N.E.2d 337 [1975] ).