A Gary mother who refused to leave her jail cell for her trial was sentenced in absentia Wednesday to 17.5 years for repeatedly beating her daughter, then 9, with an electrical cord.

A jury convicted Zakira Porter, 38, on Nov. 26 of aggravated battery, neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, battery resulting in serious bodily injury, and battery on a person less than 14 years old.

She was sentenced on aggravated battery and battery on a person less than 14 years old. She faced up to 18.5 years in prison.

“I’ve never seen a child so badly beaten that has survived,” Judge Salvador Vasquez said during the hearing.

Porter was largely not cooperative with her case.

A probation officer told the court Wednesday that Porter declined to do a routine presentence investigation report interview. Her lawyer, Sonya Scott-Dix, told Vasquez she hasn’t been able to speak with Porter after the trial, but did send a letter to the jail to tell her she had been convicted.

Scott-Dix declined to comment further after court.

When Porter was pulled over and arrested as a suspect in an unrelated gas station shooting, on May 27, 2022, cops noticed her daughter had welts and other signs of possible abuse all over her. They opened a separate investigation.

The child testified at trial that her mother beat her with the cord, threw her against a wall, hit, and choked her.

Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Jatkiewicz said Wednesday it was a “cycle” of torture.

It was the “third time” in her career to ask for a maximum sentence, she said. The child was left with a “lifetime of scars and memories.”

Earlier, lawyers said, Scott-Dix argued for leniency, saying Porter had no criminal history and struggled with mental illness.

Vasquez noted the pictures showed signs of abuse to the child’s knees and up to her neck. It was “more than I’ve ever seen.”

There were welts, scars. An x-ray showed bits of metal — probably from the electrical cord — embedded in her body. Cops found blood on the cord, on walls, on the child’s backpack.

Porter was “manipulative” and her actions were “horrendous,” he said. She was one of the “worst of the worst” he’d seen in 33 years.

Vasquez told Scott-Dix to “do the best you can” to ask Porter if she wants to appeal.

A pretrial hearing for the gas station shooting is Jan. 14. The trial is now scheduled for Feb. 10.

Hobart Police were called just after 5:30 p.m. on May 27, 2022, to a Luke Oil gas station, 3211 W. 37th Ave.

A man told police he went inside at the same time as Porter and “jokingly” said that she almost hit him with the door.

Once they left, Porter began to yell expletives at him.

“Have a blessed day,” he replied.

She said she had a gun and would shoot him, documents state. He responded there wasn’t a need to shoot over something “so small,” the affidavit states.

Porter then pulled out a pink and silver revolver, firing two to three shots at him while he waited for his kids to exit the gas station, documents state. A couple of witnesses and security video appeared to corroborate the man’s story, who appeared to duck at one point, the affidavit states.

Police did not find any bullet holes in the man’s vehicle.

A woman in a jean jacket and grey sweatpants — later identified as Porter — fled in a red GMC van. She was pulled over and arrested on W. 39th Street with her daughter in the van, documents state.

mcolias@post-trib.com