RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. (TCN) — A 43-year-old man will spend four decades in prison for abusing and burning his young daughter before fleeing to Kentucky during his trial.
The Solicitor’s Office for the Fifth Judicial Circuit announced Oct. 22 that a judge sentenced Nathan Ginter to 40 years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections. A jury convicted him on June 12 of four counts of unlawful conduct toward a child for physically abusing his 3-year-old daughter.
Ginter skipped his trial and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. According to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office for the 18th Judicial Circuit, local authorities apprehended Ginter and his accomplice, Riley Pearson, in Georgetown, Kentucky, on June 22. He was extradited back to South Carolina on Oct. 10.
Between January and March 2022, Ginter reportedly punished his daughter with abuse and torture. Prosecutors said he beat his daughter with a bamboo stick, causing bruises on her body. He also reportedly waterboarded her with cold water and used a drive-stun gun on her buttocks for several weeks, causing second-degree burns. The child’s grandfather and aunt alerted authorities after discovering the burns.
According to the solicitor’s office, investigators obtained digital evidence from Ginter and the child’s mother’s phones and observed images of the abuse. Authorities reportedly obtained video of “the defendant narrating his actions while waterboarding” his daughter.
The victim’s 9-year-old sister, who allegedly saw the abuse, testified in court.
Per WIS-TV, Ashley Kimbler, the victim’s current guardian, said the child “is kind and sweet and loving and not because of what he did, but because of me and my husband. She gets to know what true love is from a father that took her in and would move the world for her, rather than trying to ruin her world.”
The 3-year-old’s mother, Tiffany Brittain, reportedly pleaded guilty to similar child abuse charges against the victim and is serving a seven-year prison sentence.