An unlicensed daycare owner in Olathe, Kansas, has been found guilty in court after she allegedly committed an atrocious crime that left a baby blind and permanently changed.
Paige Hatfield was meant to be caring for 4-month-old Kingston Gilbert on January 31. But instead, authorities say that she beat the boy so badly he started to vomit and had to be taken to the hospital to be treated for his life-impacting injuries.
Hatfield was charged with aggravated assault of a minor in 2017 for violence against the baby who was four months old then. The boy had been in her care for just 11 days. According to another report, the authorities at the Children’s Mercy Hospital where the boy was taken stated that he had suffered an “abusive head trauma” as per court documents.
The police were also told that the injuries on the boy could “only caused by violent non-accidental physical trauma.”
According to a police report, “Ms. Hatfield repeatedly denied that (the baby) suffered a fall or was injured in any way in her care.”
She was arrested, and in court, it was revealed that on the day of the assault, the boy had been under Hatfield’s care for about six hours before she called for help.
The baby’s parents, Paul Gilbert and Ashleigh Garcia-Gilbert, also said the baby had been perfectly fine and acting normally when they dropped him off at Hatfield’s that day. As a result of the injuries, Kingston also had significant developmental delays besides losing his sight.
Ashleigh admitted that many days are “barely survivable” because of the atrocities Hatfield caused to the little boy. Only Garcia’s faith in God helped the family pull through the tragedy.
“We spent 18 days in the I.C.U. just praying that he got through,” Ashleigh said. “We were told by doctors he is never going to be the same boy. I mean, we pretty much had to grieve the loss of our child and accept that the baby that we were bringing home was not the baby that I dropped off at daycare that day.”
According to AWM:
In March 2019, Hatfield finally got sentenced. She will spend seven years behind bars. The judge gave her the maximum penalty allowable by law, which is 86 months in jail for her crimes.
Judge Brenda M. Cameron spoke about the victim’s family as she sentenced Hatfield.
“I am beyond words to express how sorry I am to Kingston and his family for their loss, and it is a tremendous loss,” she told the family during sentencing.
Before the assault, Kingston was a “happy, healthy smiling baby.”
“The child you had before you met Paige Hatfield is not the same child you have now,” the judge told Kingston’s parents.
Watch the video report below for more details:
Source: AWM
Leave a Comment