Family of child speaks out

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September 16, 2009

By BURTON SPEAKMAN The Glasgow Daily Times Wed Sep 16, 2009, 10:46 AM CDT

GLASGOW — A Glasgow man was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for throwing a 10 month-old child, resulting in the child’s skull being fractured.

John Francis Dorst, 28, was sentenced on a charge of first-degree assault. Dorst had been left alone with 10-month-old Brittany Deckard in May 2009. At some point during the night, Dorst threw the child and then put her back into the bed. The injury was not reported until the child was found by her mother, Tonya Deckard. Dorst was Tonya Deckard’s live-in boyfriend at the time of the incident.

Brittany Deckard spent three days in Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, receiving treatment for her injuries.

Because first-degree assault is considered a violent crime, Dorst will have to serve 85 percent of the prison sentence before being eligible for parole. Dorst did receive credit for about six months he has already spent in the Barren County Correction Center.

Brittany’s grandmother, Kathy Deckard, said she and her daughter Tonya Deckard will attend the parole hearings to try and keep Dorst in prison as long as possible.

“Ten years isn’t enough for you,” Kathy Deckard said during the hearing. “I hope you learn in prison what it feels like to have a fractured skull. I hope you learn the pain that Brittany went through. I hope you learn the fear she felt.”

Hopefully Brittany is young enough she won’t remember what happened to her and her sister, who witnessed the incident, and will eventually forget, Kathy Deckard said.

Brittany is an easy child to care for, she said. The actions of that night could have killed her.

“There’s a special place in Hell for people like you,” she said.

Tonya Deckard also spoke during the sentencing questioning Dorst to explain to her what happened that night, what had gotten him to the point where he threw Brittany and then just put her back into bed.

“At first I wanted to believe you that she had fallen out of bed because accidents do happen,” she said. “I offered to take Brittany with me that night, because she was sick and fussy, but you said to leave her there with you. What happened? Was she calling for me and you just couldn’t take it?”

“I wish I had an answer,” Dorst said when asked if he had anything he wanted to say.

When asked after the case for comment, Karen Davis, commonwealth’s attorney for Barren and Metcalfe counties, said there just wasn’t anything that could be said about this type of case.

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