Shawneetown man receives five years for duct taping child's mouth
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A Shawneetown man was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for duct taping a minor child's mouth, according to a release from Gallatin County State's Attorney Allen Roe.
Kenneth Hast, 23, pleaded guilty in November to aggravated domestic battery. He said he applied duct tape across the young victim's mouth in the family home, according to the release.
Illinois State Police officers provided testimony at a sentencing hearing before the sentence was announced.
"A prison sentence was the only appropriate result in this case especially because the abuse came at the hands of someone entrusted with this child's care," Roe said in a prepared release.