WELLFORD WOMAN RECEIVES 18-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR FELONY CHILD ABUSE

A Wellford woman received an 18-year prison sentence today after she admitted to nearly shaking her seven-week-old baby to death.

Gina Colin, 21, of 312 Palmetto Park Drive, pleaded guilty to felony child abuse this morning before Circuit Judge Mark Hayes.

Colin took the unresponsive child, Jonathan Urbano Colin, to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center on Dec. 30. During their examination, doctors discovered a skull fracture, multiple left side rib fractures and a broken clavicle. They also found a healing broken foot, a healing broken ulna (bone that stretches from the elbow to wrist) and healing right side rib fractures.

Colin gave more than a dozen inconsistent or conflicting statements when medical workers, social workers and law enforcement quizzed her about the injuries. In her final statement, Colin said the baby wouldn’t stop crying and she placed him in her lap. She smashed his head between her knees in an attempt to quiet the child.

Assistant Solicitor Jennifer Wells said Jonathan will not recover from his injuries. He is blind and his brain growth is stunted. He is unable to sit up or roll over by himself.

“This case is a heartbreaker,” Wells said. “This child was born healthy and his mother ruined his life seven weeks later.”

Wells partnered with Assistant Solicitor Kim Leskanic to prosecute the case.

The baby is in foster care and her 2-year-old sister is currently in her father’s custody.

Colin is an illegal alien who has been living in South Carolina for nearly 5 years. She will serve 85 percent of the prison sentence before she is eligible for release.