Charges were dismissed Monday against a Butler father accused of failing to report his 6-year-old daughter’s abuse at the hands of his girlfriend.

District Judge William Fullerton ruled that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence at John N. Ingram’s preliminary hearing that the defendant knew his daughter was being severely abused since 2014.

Earlier in the day, Tonya L. Schmidt, 33, of Butler, Ingram’s girlfriend, waived her own preliminary hearing on charges she punched, strangled and pushed the girl down a set of stairs at the family home on East Pearl Street.

Schmidt is already awaiting trial on charges she used a stove top to burn the child’s hands Jan. 4.

Fullerton, in dismissing the case against Ingram, called the prosecution’s evidence “hearsay upon hearsay.”

Ingram, seated next to his attorney, Kathryn Stevenson, appeared barely able to control his emotions upon hearing the decision.

Police Lt. Detective Anthony Fatta was the lone witness to testify at the hearing. He recounted the initial report Jan. 4 to the state’s ChildLine hot line that accused Schmidt of burning the girl’s hands on the gas stove.

The child suffered second-degree burns on both hands, Fatta said. She was treated for her injuries at Butler Memorial Hospital.

The Butler County Children and Youth Services agency removed the girl from the home and she was placed in foster care.

Ingram, who was free on $5,000 bail, continues to have supervised visits with his daughter, authorities said.

Schmidt was arrested Jan. 20 on several charges including aggravated assault and child endangerment, both felonies. She is being held in the Butler County Prison on $75,000 bail.

The girl, after the first ChildLine report, later made “multiple disclosures” to her foster mother of other prior abuses by Schmidt, Fatta testified.

She told authorities that Schmidt in 2015 pushed her down the stairs at a home on Pillow Street. Fatta said CYS records he reviewed indicated that Ingram was at the home and took his daughter to the hospital for treatment of injuries.

But, Fatta said, Ingram did not report to police or CYS what happened.

The girl also accused Schmidt of punching her in the face and choking her.

The girl’s injuries were observed different times by school staff at Emily Brittain Elementary School, where she was enrolled, with reports of makeup being used to cover injuries between 2014 and 2016, according to police.

On one occasion in 2015, a school staff member noticed the girl with facial cuts and swelling, all covered with a layer of makeup.

The girl’s foster mother in a ChildLine report claimed the victim told her that Ingram had applied the makeup on her face to hide the injury, Fatta testified.

But on cross-examination, Stevenson asked Fatta if he was aware of a document prepared by CYS that suggested Schmidt, not her client, had applied the makeup, apparently to cover up the child’s facial injuries.

Fatta said he had not seen any such document.

The detective also acknowledged that the girl, during a Jan. 5 forensic interview, never disclosed that her father knew that Schmidt had abused her.

Fatta said police never interviewed the girl.

While questioning the detective, Stevenson also noted that during the alleged abuse, Ingram worked daily between 1 and 9 p.m., a time period in which Schmidt was the girl’s caregiver.

Following Fatta’s testimony, Stevenson asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing there was no direct evidence presented at the hearing that indicated her client knew his daughter was being abused.

But prosecutor Mark Lope, a county assistant district attorney, disagreed.

“(Ingram) was living with the child at the time,” he said, “and he had to know it.”

Fullerton sided with the defense, ruling the evidence was “not sufficient” to hold Ingram for trial.

He advised Lope that the district attorney’s office could still re-file the charges later.

Lope, following the hearing, would not say if he planned to pursue the case further. He declined to comment about Monday’s outcome.

Defense attorney Stevenson left the courtroom without comment. A telephone call later was not returned.