KINGSTON, Jamaica — A woman who left her two babies with her wheelchair-bound mother for two days is to return to court on October 1, 2024 to answer to the charge of child neglect.

Senior Parish Judge Sanchia Burrell had the case referred for Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) intervention when the matter was called up before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday.

It is alleged that the 23-year-old, who is a vendor at the Coronation Market in downtown Kingston, left her one-year-old and three-year-old children with her wheelchair-bound mother and her 13-year-old brother for two days while she visited Westmoreland where the children’s father resides.

The police were alerted to the incident by the brother who called to report that the children were hungry.

The offence was committed on October 19, 2024. The mother was arrested and the children were placed in the custody of the father.

The wheelchair-bound grandmother who was reportedly diabetic passed shortly after the incident on October 30, 2023.

Responding to questions regarding where the children were currently, the mother’s lawyer told the court that the three-year-old was at school while the one-year-old was at a daycare but both were once again in the mother’s custody.

“How did they come to be with the mother again?” judge Burrell asked. “I can’t send her away to have custody of the very children she is accused of neglecting.”

The children were then placed in the custody of their aunt.

Judge Burrell warned her that the accused cannot visit them at her home unless agreed by the CPFSA who will have to do their own checks.

The mother’s bail was extended.

— Kelsey Thomas