LOWELL -- A Lowell Superior Court judge held firm on $500,000 cash bail against a 26-year-old Lowell man last week, then added conditions that he have no contact with the victim or the victim's family.

Police allege Bunthang Ponn, formerly of 18 Walnut St., broke the back and ribs of his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter and may have caused her brain damage.


On Nov. 30, the girl was rushed to Lowell General Hospital suffering from what was believed to be a massive stroke, associated with brain swelling, and she couldn't walk.

Prosecutors allege Ponn, who is not the child's biological father, told his girlfriend the child had fallen out of a high chair and began to shake. The child was immediately transferred to Boston Children's Hospital, where she remains hospitalized. Doctors there discovered she had five or six fractured vertebrae, three fractured ribs and swelling of the brain, prosecutors said, as well as bruises on her arms, back, chin and neck.

Preliminary medical results indicated the child suffered "significant" injuries to her head, prosecutors said. Doctors at Children's Hospital indicated the child's head trauma is not consistent with a fall from a chair, but with abusive head trauma from being shaken, according to prosecutors.


Ponn was arrested Dec. 6. His next date is March 19 for a pretrial conference.