June 7 date for mother of children burned alive in house fire
Published:Friday | April 29, 2022 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE ST James Parish Court has set a hearing date of June 7 in relation to the manslaughter case against Christiann Johnson, the woman whose two young children died in a house fire after she allegedly left them alone at home on May 19, 2021.
Johnson, who appeared in court with a calm but subdued expression Wednesday, was given the new court date and had her station bail extended following her appearance before presiding parish judge, Sasha Ashley.
The prosecution told the court that while the fire unit’s report into the incident was ready, the birth certificates for both deceased children were required to be added to the case file.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s attorney, Martyn Thomas, told Judge Ashley that he was prepared to get a hearing date for his client.
“How is June 7, a Tuesday, for you?” asked Judge Ashley.
“Yes, your honour, it should be fine,” Thomas replied after checking his court diary.
“Your new court date is June 7, and it is a hearing date. Your bail is extended, and you will have to give your fingerprints to the police,” Judge Ashley directly addressed Johnson, before allowing her to leave the prisoners’ dock.
DOCUMENT SUBMISSION DATE
The prosecution is expected to submit the document bundle in the case to the defence on May 19, ahead of the June 7 hearing date.
According to the allegations, Johnson left her three-year-old and one-year-old children alone at their board house and went to a nearby shop to buy items. Shortly afterwards, she received word that the house was on fire with the children trapped inside.
A team from the Jamaica Fire Brigade took part in battling the blaze, and in the aftermath, the two children’s charred remains were found among the ruins of the house. Johnson was subsequently arrested and charged.
In a more recent but similarly tragic incident, four-year-old Kayla Tomlinson and her three-year-old sister Abigail Tomlinson perished in a fire at their Hayesfield home in Race Course, Clarendon, on March 24 this year after their mother reportedly left them at home to run an errand nearby.
The girls’ mother, Micey Walters, was charged with negligence under Section 9 of the Child Care and Protection Act. She appeared in the Clarendon Parish Court on April 1, where she was granted bail in the sum of $800,000 and booked to return on June 3.
Over the years, the Jamaica Fire Brigade has repeatedly urged parents not to leave children at home unsupervised, with the Brigade’s Public Relations Officer Emilio Ebanks in 2014 denouncing it as a dangerous practice.
In 2019, the Brigade’s Area Four Assistant Commissioner Floyd McLean called for tougher laws to punish negligent parents, following the deaths of eight-year-old Javinchie Palmer and his one-year-old brother Tyler McLeod, and the injuring of their young sisters, in a fire that consumed their wooden house in Paradise, Norwood, St James, on November 1 that year.