NC man sentenced to more than 12 years for harming child who later died at hospital

A North Carolina man was sentenced to 12 1/2 years Monday after pleading guilty to inflicting great bodily injury on a child in 2019, according to the Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson’s office.

Geames Kena Ratliff, 40, of Hamlet, N.C., pleaded guilty before his trial, according to a press release.

In August 2019, Ratliff was vacationing in Myrtle Beach with the child’s mother and their other children, the press release said. Ratliff took the child from the couple’s shared hotel room and was alone with the child when he became unresponsive.

The child was taken by ambulance to the Grand Strand Regional Medical Center, where he passed away the following day. The child had injuries consistent with having been shaken, the release said.