Woman Sentenced in Child Battery Case

A 25-year-old Oxnard woman has been sentenced to four years in prison for intentionally dropping her infant daughter over a 6-foot-high chain-link fence and fracturing the child’s skull.

Aretha Chester was sentenced Friday after a two-year court saga.

She was arrested in July 1994 on suspicion of battery and child endangerment after witnesses said she dropped her baby on its head during an argument with the child’s father at Sierra Linda Park in Oxnard.

Witnesses said Chester was upset that the girl’s father was leaving a birthday party and she threatened to drop the child, then 3 months old, if he did not return.

After her arrest, Chester told police that the girl had fallen from a child’s seat.

At one point, Chester, who has three other children, was released from jail against the objection of prosecutors. She was later promised probation in exchange for a guilty plea. But after medical reports indicated that the child had suffered permanent brain damage, a Superior Court judge canceled the deal citing the updated medical information.