Derrick McLean, 30, Lansford, will serve nine months in jail for punching his girlfriend’s 11-month-old daughter in the side of the head with a closed fist when she wouldn’t stop crying in January 2018.

McLean pleaded guilty to Class C felony child abuse in district court in Minot.

Judge Stacy Louser sentenced him to a total of five years in prison, with all but the nine months suspended, and three years of supervised probation. She ordered McLean to have no contact with the child or her mother, to complete anger management classes, to obtain a psychological evaluation, and to pay $1,350 in court costs.

The child’s mother told the court she is satisfied with the sentence and wants McLean to get help. The woman testified that the crime will have an effect on their lives moving forward. McLean had been present during the child’s early months and the woman is not sure whether to tell her daughter what McLean did to her or what to say when her daughter asks one day who the man is in pictures from her early childhood.

McLean had been babysitting for the child while her mother was at work. The woman took her daughter to the hospital for treatment when she returned and found bruising on the baby’s face. McLean later admitted he had punched the baby girl.

McLean will receive credit for 14 days already served in the Ward County Jail.