I might feel more for him if he didn't continue to claim that LH wasn't abused and call people idiots for talking about it. His head is STILL in the sand. He probably knows EG put those bruises on LH (and more than likely put a few on him himself), but thinks that throwing water bottles at a 5 year old's head is an appropriate punishment... certainly not abuse. Like that guy who was "shadow boxing" with his 6 month old and thought it was appropriate play. My father-in-law used to hit my husband with wires and lock him and his brother in a shed and fill it with smoke. He would NEVER in a million years think of himself as abusive (and oddly enough, neither would my husband).
I don't care what his intention was or wasn't, I don't consider not knowing how much you can beat a child without them dying an excuse. I hope they can find a way to put him in jail too. At least he'll be able to stay near EG. It would be like a modern-day Romeo and Juliet!