Mother warned to stay away from children

Intervention by a senior parish judge on Tuesday in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court saw a 23-year-old woman stripped of access to her children, ages one and three years old.

Senior Parish Judge Sanchia Burrell was aggrieved on Tuesday, after it was revealed that the woman, who is charged with two counts of child neglect, was the toddlers' primary caregiver.

"The children are still in the custody of the same person who neglected them! This is absurd!" expressed the senior jurist.

The woman, who will not be named by THE STAR to protect the identity of the children, is accused of leaving the children at home on October 19, 2023 in the care of her 13-year-old brother and her mother who uses a wheelchair. The children were left alone for two days.

"Your Honour, it was the 13-year-old who called the police and said that the children were hungry and other things. He also said 'Memba a me yuh lef dem wid'," the prosecutor related.

However, submissions by the woman's attorney-at-law Nicholas Miller state that his client, who is a resident of Hannah Town, is a vendor at the Coronation Market in downtown Kingston and ventured to St Elizabeth to purchase ground provisions.

But the judge was further peeved, hearing that shortly after the incident, the children were taken from the mother's home and placed in the care of their father, who resides in Westmoreland. However, the mother journeyed to his home and took the children away.

"I cannot let this woman leave and go back home to the children. The person accused of neglecting them cannot have custody of them until the matter is finished," the senior judge said.

It was then that Burrell made contact with the Children's Advocate, Diahann Gordon Harrison, seeking advice on how to remedy the situation. She also instructed the prosecutor to make contact with the Child Protection and Family Services Agency to have a representative present in court for the matter.

After two hours of standing down the matter, the representatives arrived and the accused woman's sister attended court, indicating her intention to take the children in her care.

"Madam, she cannot come to yuh yard. Why she cannot come is because she took them from their father," the judge warned the sister.

"I am expecting to hear some steps that she is taking to reconciliation. What they did was really bad," Burrell added.

The matter was adjourned until October 1 for mention.