Charges were dismissed Monday against a Butler father accused of failing to report his 6-year-old daughter’s abuse at th 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, who was free on $5,000 bail, continues to have supervised visits with his daughter, authorities said.