Former foster mother sentenced for abusing 2-year-old child

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A former foster mother has been sentenced to serve a year and a half in prison for abusing and physically injuring a 2-year-old in her care.

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin says 31-year-old Shamika Ramos, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was sentenced Wednesday in Superior Court to five years, with a year and a half to serve and the remainder suspended with probation for second-degree child abuse.

Ramos was found guilty by a jury Aug. 1 after a four-day trial.

Prosecutors say the boy was hospitalized in 2014 with injuries to his ears and a subgaleal hematoma, a tearing of the scalp from the skull bone. Witnesses testified the injuries were consistent with child abuse and were inflicted when Ramos had been alone with the child.

Ramos had denied abusing the boy.