‘Suitcase baby’ parents jailed for 12 months
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The parents who hid their son’s decomposing body in a suitcase at their home and failed to report his death are now each serving 12-month prison sentences.
Alphanso and Stephanie Warren of Chisholm Avenue, Kingston, were sentenced last Thursday after several delays in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court.
The Warrens, who had been in custody since January, were sentenced by Magistrate Maxine Ellis to 12 months each on charges of concealment of death and failure to bury the body of a child, which they had pleaded guilty to earlier.
However, the charges are to run concurrently.
The couple reportedly migrated to Jamaica in 2009 after they were convicted on child abandonment charges in Canada and their five children were taken by the state. According to reports in the Canadian media, the couple left their eight-month-old daughter on a frigid stairwell in Toronto and the child was found face down and bleeding.
The couple was charged by the Jamaican police after the body of their two-year-old-son, Jeshurun, was found in a suitcase in an abandoned room at their home.
The child’s body was found by angry neighbours who had stormed the couple’s home after concerns were raised about the whereabouts of the child.
The Government pathologist later reported that the child had died from natural causes.
The court on a previous mention date heard that the child was delivered at home and had never been seen by a doctor.