Judge irked by delayed mental health report for mom charged with infant’s murder
Published:Saturday | April 6, 2024 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE PRESIDING judge in the case of Shamoya Green voiced clear exasperation on Friday that the defendant has not been given any mental-health treatment since her arrest.
Green is accused of throwing her five-month-old daughter off the roof of their three-storey home to her death in December 2023.
Judge Natiesha Fairclough-Hylton made her displeasure clear when Green, 27, who is charged with the murder of her infant daughter Destiny Brown, showed signs of disorientation when she appeared in the St James Parish Court.
“Mi pickney dem a call me. Dem a call me. Dem want me, Miss,” Green said mournfully, in a repeat of her first court appearance on March 6.
“Which children are you talking about?” Fairclough-Hylton inquired.
“Mi have two pickney, Miss,” Green answered.
“What are their names?” Fairclough-Hylton asked next.
“Mi nuh remember dem name right ya now. A two pickney God bless mi with, and mi want to know what a gwaan, why dem a do this. Why, why why? Dem need mi y’know, dem need mi,” Green said, shortly before attempting to remove her clothing but was swiftly stopped by her lawyer Jillian Haughton.
History of mental illness
Fairclough-Hylton subsequently expressed disgust that no psychiatric evaluation has been done for Green since December, even though the woman is said to have been a patient at the Cornwall Regional Hospital’s (CRH) psychiatric unit.
“She was brought today. She clearly suffers from an illness of the mind, and the allegations are such that clearly she has a history … . They are waiting on a date for the assessment, [but] she has been in custody since December, and CRH cannot give a date up to now for when they would assess her? This cannot be. She is in custody, and clearly she is not well,” Fairclough-Hylton complained.
Additionally, the court was reminded that other documents, including an assessor’s report regarding a witness, the post-mortem report, and the scene-of-crime statement were remained outstanding.
Fairclough-Hylton subsequently set the case for mention on May 2, to allow time for Green’s psychiatric assessment to be done.
She also remanded Green.
“I don’t want to keep bringing her back or bringing the matter back without any progress being made. She needs to be assessed and it will take some amount of time, so that is why I am setting it for a month from today, which should give the doctors enough time to get their house in order so that they can give at least [conduct] an initial assessment … . As it is now, she is not being treated and she is going to deteriorate,” Fairclough-Hylton declared.
Allegations are that on December 6, 2023, about 5:35 p.m., Green was at home with her common-law husband and other family members in Lilliput, St James, when she tried to have a conversation with the man about their relationship. However, he put off the talks to later that evening.
Green reportedly became enraged and left the room, taking Destiny with her. She then reportedly took the child to the roof of the third floor of the family’s house and threw her on to the concrete pit in the yard.
The police were alerted and Destiny was taken to the hospital, where she died.