A local man was sentenced Thursday in New London Superior Court to 10 years in prison for kidnapping the mother of his child and kicking and punching her while he drank alcohol in his Ledyard home last year.

Christopher R. Mims, 33, pleaded guilty in May to first-degree kidnapping and risk of injury to a minor, agreeing to the sentence negotiated by Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Lawrence J. Tytla and Mims’ attorney, M. Fred DeCaprio.

Mims, who was arrested last April following a lengthy standoff with police, said in court Thursday that he never meant to hurt the woman, whom he has known since he was 12 years old.

“This is not some random relationship,” he said, adding that he knew the woman “when you had ... no cellphones, no texting, and we was writing love letters in school. This is the female that we’re talking about here, and I never wanted to put her in a situation like that.”

Mims entered his guilty pleas under the Alford Doctrine, which indicates he doesn't agree with the state's version of the case but does not want to risk a trial. Judge Hillary B. Strackbein told him in May that he could be sentenced to up to 38 years if convicted of the charges.

Mims denied that the couple’s then 2-year-old daughter was in the room during the 4½ hours that he was hitting the child’s mother and tying her feet and ankles with a rope.

“There’s a lot of gray area in this case,” he said. “When I say my daughter was not in that room, my daughter was not in that room. That’s my first-born child. I cut that little girl’s umbilical cord ... me and that girl have a beautifully unique bond.”

The woman did not attend Thursday’s sentencing hearing, and was granted a permanent restraining order against Mims.

“I wish my victim was here just so she could hear the sincerity in my voice,” Mims said.

Mims has been held in lieu of $750,000 since he was arrested and incarcerated at the MacDougall-Walker Institution in Suffield.

According to court records and testimony, Mims had been released from prison two weeks before the 2016 incident after a six-month prison stint for domestic violence involving a different victim.

On the day of his release, the kidnapping victim attempted to obtain a restraining order, but a judge dismissed the case after conducting a hearing and determining the applicant had not met the statutory requirements.

“That day I was really under extreme emotional distress,” Mims told Judge Hillary B. Strackbein on Thursday. “It’s a moment in my life where the rug got really swept from under my feet — no excuses ... (but) I was just trying to get a point across by talking.”

Police said Mims invited the woman to his home to meet his "sponsor" so that she would feel more comfortable leaving the child with him. He met her outside, picked up the child and pulled the woman into the house.

The woman said Mims told her, "You are going to die today” and drank alcohol as he repeatedly kicked and punched her, tied her hands and feet with a rope and forced her to read aloud from a notebook of his writings.

The woman said she was knocked unconscious several times before she convinced him to untie her. She then escaped with the child.

Over the next six hours, according to Ledyard police, Mims refused to leave the home, threatening to commit "suicide by cop."

Mims’ 10-year sentence will be followed by 10 years of special parole.

Strackbein told Mims she believes alcohol and drug abuse have been a factor in his criminal history and encouraged him to seek out programs that would help him while he is imprisoned.

“You seem clear-headed today, and I hope that will stay that way,” she said.

m.shanahan@theday.com