OXNARD : Woman Faces Trial in Child Battery Case
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An Oxnard woman accused of dropping her infant daughter over a six-foot fence pleaded not guilty Monday to battery and child-endangerment charges.
Aretha Marcell Chester, 23, appeared in Ventura County Superior Court for her arraignment and was ordered to stand trial on Sept. 26.
Chester was arrested after an incident on July 31 that witnesses said began with an argument between the woman and a group of men at Sierra Linda Park in Oxnard. When the men jumped over the chain-link fence, Chester dangled the infant over the fence and released her, according to testimony from witnesses at a preliminary hearing.
Chester told police after her arrest that the baby had fallen from a child’s seat.
The fall left the baby, Sara Kimbrough, with a fractured skull. The child was released from the hospital the next day to the custody of Chester’s mother.
Chester remained in County Jail Monday in lieu of $10,000 bail.
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