A Joliet man faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to nearly killing his 2-year-old stepdaughter, leaving the girl so traumatized that she remains terrified of men, her aunt said.
Richard Harris, 35, of 816 Black, was arrested and charged with aggravated battery to a child in February 2011. He will be sentenced Feb. 13.
Harris told Will County Judge Sarah Jones that he was "very sorry" for his actions, according to a story in the Joliet Herald News.
Judy Brown, the girl's aunt and foster mother for the last two years, said Harris' attacks on the child were so violent that the hair was ripped from her head and the now-4-year-old girl continues to have nightmares in which she wakes up screaming, the story said. Her brain injuries were so severe that she had to relearn how to walk and talk, the woman said.
“It would tear me up to see someone innocent have so much fear,” Brown said, reading from her victim impact statement, according to the story. “If someone called her name, she would put her hands in front of her face and say, ‘Don’t hit me.’”