A 44-year-old mother of six has been sentenced to spend six months at the Her Majesty’s Prison for causing her 5-year-old daughter “to be in need of care and protection.”The incident in question occurred on October 17, 2019 on Kentish Rd when the child was seen running back and forth in the street that evening.
A motorist who lived in Nut Grove stopped his car and removed the child from the road and took her to house a nearby where a friend of his resided. The child was asked about her mother but was clueless as to where she was.
The neighbour went to the house where he knew the child lived and made several telephone calls to the mother which went unanswered. The man opened the door to the home and noticed that no one was inside but there was a lit candle in the house.
The child was taken to the St. John’s Police station and a search was carried out for her mother with no success. Later that night, the defendant showed up at the Gray’s Farm Police station to file a report for a missing child. She was shown the child, told of the offence, and subsequently charged.
The woman told the police that she left the house to charge a light source since they did not have electricity. She also told the officers that the child was ill that day and taken out of school. The woman told the court today that she was frustrated because of her delinquent 15-year-old daughter and not only went to charge the appliance but also went to find her.
She said that she left the young child sitting on the verandah and assumed that a neighbour would be watching her. The defendant’s lawyer, Ralph Francis, mitigated on her behalf saying that the woman is “a loving mother who erred and has been paying for her mistakes.”
However, the Magistrate did not believe that she was contrite and said that she will be ensuring that the aunt who presently has the child gets full custody. Noting that the woman was a first-time offender, the Magistrate did not issue to maximum sentence of three years.
Instead she jailed her for six months “to reflect” and stated that woman should seek help and desist from having children. At the time of the incident, four of the women’s children were living with other relatives.
