Accused baby snatcher claims she adopted Nyyear
Published:Friday | February 7, 2020 | 12:28 AMDanae Hyman/Gleaner Writer
Anniesha Ramsay, the woman charged with stealing baby Nyyear Frank, has denied being involved in snatching the child, claiming she adopted the then five-week-old on a payment plan with a total due of $500,000.
Nyyear was snatched while he and his mother were walking along Rousseau Road in St Andrew on the afternoon of Sunday, October 13 last year.
Requesting bail for his client in the Kingston and St Andrew court yesterday, attorney Davion Vassell said Ramsay, who was five months pregnant, lost her child in August and was going through a state of depression.
“She started to post a lot of sad things on her WhatsApp stories, and on one day, when she posted a picture of a mother releasing balloons to the heavens to represent her baby, a friend of hers messaged to ask what was wrong,” Vassell said.
LOST HER BABY
According to the attorney, Ramsay then told her friend about her pregnancy ending prematurely and that she was depressed. The friend then told her that he knew someone who wanted to give up their baby for adoption.
Two months later, her friend allegedly remade contact, telling her he had a baby for her and days later delivered the child who turned out to be Nyyear.
Ramsay’s attorney said it was after receiving the baby that her friend started demanding money for the child and that she had no previous knowledge that money was involved in the ‘adoption’.
However, rebutting Vassell’s suggestions, the clerk of court read a statement made by Ramsay to the police where she said her friend mentioned the cost of the baby before delivering the child.
“In relation to my friend’s submission in relation to money being involved, some conversations were had with the accused and a person by the name of [name withheld] that he knows of people who want to give up their baby and the baby was given to her with the intention of a payment plan to be arranged and the sum that was agreed on was $500,000,” the clerk said.
Further, she said the Crown would not oppose bail under stringent conditions.
Parish Judge Feona Feare-Gregory, however, denied the bail application.
“There are some documents that are outstanding on which the court need to make further decisions,” Feare-Gregory told Ramsay.
... Child services body urges J’cans to avoid back-door adoptions
An official of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) is imploring Jamaicans to desist from making back-door adoption deals, warning that they could face up to six months imprisonment or $500,000 in fines for breaches of the Adoption Act.
“Adoption in Jamaica is free, once you start to get in payment, you are going against the law … ,” Maxine Bagalue, adoption coordinator at the CPFSA, told The Gleaner yesterday.
Her comments came in response to Gleaner queries after Anniesha Ramsay, the woman charged with stealing baby Nyyear Frank denied being involved in snatching the child, claiming she adopted the then five-week-old on a payment plan with a total due of $500,000.
“We are imploring that persons who want to give their babies up for adoption, come to the CPFSA. We are also imploring persons to not get into any arrangements where they are paying for a baby,” said Bagalue, who was not commenting specifically on the case. She also noted that a mother cannot give consent for a child to be adopted until the baby is six weeks old.
Persons who are interested in adopting should visit the CPFSA website and fill out the application form to get the process started.