BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) A father has pleaded guilty to assault in what authorities called the worst case of child abuse they had ever seen.

The Connecticut Post reports that Daquon Gomillion faces 15 years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 12.

Prosecutors say his 5-year-old boy was beaten repeatedly with a cord during an extended period of time and a portion of an ear is missing.

John Leventhal of Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital said the child has extensive scarring over most of his body and the scars are too numerous to count.

The 23-year-old Gomillion pleaded guilty Thursday to assault and risk of injury to a child under the Alford Doctrine, which means he doesn't admit his guilt but concedes there is a good chance he could be found guilty if he went to trial.