A Bellingham woman who hit a 5-year-old in the head with a hammer is going to prison

A Bellingham woman who hit a 5-year-old child in the head with a hammer while she was caring for him will spend the next few years in prison, according to court records filed in Whatcom County Superior Court.

Hannah Leah Moen, 27, was sentenced this week to nearly two years in prison for second-degree assault. With no prior criminal history, her standard sentence would have been three to nine months. Instead, she got an exceptional sentence above that range because she “knew or should have known that the victim of the current offense was particularly vulnerable or incapable of resistance,” according to court records.

She was also ordered to stay away from the child for the next 10 years.

On Feb. 10, the then-5-year-old was being cared for by Moen while the boy’s father was at work, according to court records.

When the father got home, he found the boy lying in bed with a cold compress and blood on his head. The boy was taken to St. Joseph hospital, where police were called about a two-inch cut on the back of his head, records state. The boy was treated for a concussion and received five stitches.

The boy told investigators Moen became upset while watching him because “everything was annoying her,” records state. The boy then said Moen hit him, first with her fist and then with a hammer. He also told Child Protective Services that Moen had hit him in the past, records show.

Police found a small metal hammer in a drawer at the home in the 2800 block of West Maplewood Avenue, and a blanket the boy said had blood on it.