AN announcement by the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) that it is fast-tracking the installation of security cameras at Glenhope Place of Safety, even as it probes the injuries suffered by a one-year-old boy who had been in its care, has been welcomed by attorney Denise Hinson who is adamant that somebody needs to be held accountable for how the child came to be injured in such a manner.

“The questions still need to be answered. This should not be pushed under the rug. I’m angry, and I think that someone needs to explain why a one-year-old defenceless child, a Jamaican child, looks as if he was in an MMA (mixed martial arts) fight,” Hinson told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

The attorney is representing the mother of the child who is before the court for immigration issues.

She said the child’s injuries captivated the attention of the St Catherine Parish Court last Friday when the matter was called up before Justice Roneiph Lawrence.

Hinson said the child’s Haitian mother, Fabienne Cherisma, who was recently arrested for overstaying her visa alongside her husband who is said to have used fraudulent documents to obtain Jamaican citizenship, were on Friday brought before the court so it could make a further order for the child to remain in the custody of the State.

However, Hinson said when the child was presented to the court, both parents went into shock.

“The child was taken to court with [healing] black and blue bruises under both eyes; what seemed to be burn marks to the right cheek and chin; swelling of the face, especially to the right cheek; and scratches to the nose. Both eyes were bloodshot in the corners. A medical shown to the court by the CPFSA officer who brought the baby to court, described the injuries as ‘non-accidental’,” Hinson told the Observer.

The attorney said that when the mother saw her child she “screamed and began to cry uncontrollably and the father collapsed. They had to be removed and later returned to the dock”.

Hinson said the court was also “visibly disturbed by the doctor’s findings and the injuries on the baby’s face”.

She said the CPFSA officer, when pressed by the judge about the cause of the child’s injuries, “informed the court that when she asked, on arriving to collect the child, she was told that he had hit his face on the crib”.

The attorney, in making a successful bail application on behalf of the mother, who was released on humanitarian grounds, however countered that, “both eyes were bruised and that could not have occurred if the child simply fell out his crib”.

“I also pointed out that the child is in danger where he is and that he needed his mother. My focus is really to get to the bottom of how the child received those injuries at Glenhope. Also, the bruises were healing and the burn mark almost completely healed. However, the child didn’t see a doctor until the day before court, on August 6, 2026. I need help in finding out when and how the child was injured and why the child wasn’t taken to the doctor until the day before the scheduled court date,” Hinson declared.

The attorney said she is in discussion with the child’s mother to determine the legal options available to her as she presses for answers regarding her son’s health. Hinson told the Observer that her client is adamant that the “child was in perfect health when removed from [their] home”.

The CPFSA issued a statement to the media on Monday saying “the incident is being investigated and is being treated with utmost urgency and importance”.

The agency stated that it “takes a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of child abuse” and said, based on the outcome of the investigation, it stands ready to execute all measures or sanctions regarding child abuse, in keeping with the Child Care and Protection Act (CCPA 2004).

Furthermore, the CPFSA said under its 2025–2027 strategic framework it established an islandwide initiative to equip residential child care facilities with security cameras, ensuring high safety standards are maintained across all locations.

“In light of the recent incident however, deployment has been prioritised to fast-track installation at the facility in which this incident has taken place,” the agency pledged.