Villa Rica man sentenced to 30 years for abusing 6-month-old daughter

VILLA RICA, Ga. — A Villa Rica man has been sentenced to spend the next 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to abusing his infant daughter.

Timothy Hatmaker was arrested in 2019 after taking his 6-month-old daughter to the hospital after suffering severe head injuries. After an emergency surgery, police began investigating how she got those injuries.

Doctors also found that she had new and old rib fractures in addition to her head trauma.

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They ultimately determined that Hatmaker had thrown the infant to the floor, despite his attempts to mislead them.

After his March 2019 arrest, Hatmaker admitted to investigators that he had thrown the child on the ground because she was crying and he did not feel like he had a good connection with her.

He also admitted to picking her up two or three months earlier and squeezing her because she would not stop crying.

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Hatmaker pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, aggravated battery and cruelty to children late last week and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He will serve 20 of those years and spend the remaining 10 on probation.

The child is doing well today.

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