S

A man has been ordered to serve a year behind bars for hitting his 8-year-old daughter in the head with a broom handle, splitting the child’s scalp with the blow.

The man, Alan Wayne Harris, 30, was directed in Coffee County Circuit Court to serve one year of a three-year sentence for child abuse.

His sentence comes after an incident that happened while he and his daughter were cleaning a bedroom. She girl said she was apparently not working to her father’s satisfaction.

“The father got mad and struck the child on top of her head with a broom handle,” the warrant against Harris revealed. “The strike caused an inch to inch-and-half gash in the child’s head.”

The child was not taken for medical attention for the gash and her mother later explained she did not call for help because she was in fear for her safety. She noted Harris often hit the child in the head.