J’can Woman Charged With The Murder Of Her Two Children ‘Too Sick’ For US Court
Forty-year-old Sophia Hines who lives in Philadelphia with her family remains in the psychiatric ward of a Broward County jail on suicide watch.
The Jamaican woman charged in connection with what Miramar police call the premeditated murders of her two children while on vacation in South Florida did not appear in court today as expected.
Instead 40-year-old Sophia Hines who lived in Philadelphia with her family remains in the psychiatric ward of a Broward County jail on suicide watch.
The Sun Sentinel newspaper quotes Assistant Public Defender Betsy Benson as saying the woman is catatonic.
“It looks like it was postpartum depression that was misdiagnosed. She is very, very sick right now. It is very hard for us to communicate with her.”
Hines was arrested on Wednesday night at the Miramar at the home of her cousin after her seven-month-old baby boy St. Leo, and daughter, three-year-old daughter Ariel were pronounced dead.
Police records indicate that Hines told detectives she held a bed sheet over St Leo’s mouth until he was no longer breathing then did the same to her daughter.
St. Leo is the son of Anthony Singleton of Philadelphia while Ariel is the daughter of Craig Thomas in Jamaica.
Hines has two children in their 20s living here.
She has worked in the US as a retail clerk and in telephone sales and was married Singleton four months ago.
In the meantime, the US prosecutor says the Jamaican woman may not be fit for trial.
“If she is found incompetent, we’ll try to get her in a hospital as soon as possible,” Benson said.
Hines’ family relatives have said she was a wonderful mother who loved her children and her husband says he has been left shocked and devastated.
Wow! To get to that point you must have some serious underlying issues… very sad situation ):
From she have 20 year olds she shouldn’t have 3 year old and 7 months old, and leave all the way from Philly go kill dem in a people house.
Condolences to the paternal parents and the cousin.
Postpartum depression is very serious. I had it once with my son. My neice had it and had to be hospitalized in the psych ward and medicated. Some women are scared to talk about it, it hey don’t want to be labeled bad parents. It’s a mental illness brought about by a chemical imbalance in the brain. It is not the woman’s fault, and can affect any new mother, regardless of race, creed, financial stability or nationality
So how did you deal with it? Medication, Counseling? How long does it last? Symptoms?
Morning Willie, this was even before there was a diagnosis. I breast fed my children but whenever my son would take my breast I would become angry. I cried for no reason at all, the thought in my head whenever he cried was to shut him up by any means. There were other symptoms but I won’t bore you. I didn’t even tell my husband. I didn’t want him to think I was crazy or would hurt the children. I didn’t want people to know the thoughts I had to harm my baby. I never ever talked about until my niece also was diagnosed. Then I opened up and let people know, what I had endured. I just had to focus and handle it on my own. Eventually the thoughts to harm my son faded, I stopped crying etc. but this took months. I was very fortunate, I’m strong willed and was able to over come the depression. But I was a exception and lucky. A lot of women have it so much worse and I pray this poor woman gets the help she needs. Once she recovers from her catatonic state she’s going to remember what she did to her children. Living with that guilt is going to tear her apart
Postpartum depression is a serious issue fi real. Sweets unlike you alot of women don’t have that strong well and oftentimes confuse themselves. NO mother want to be seen as incompetent and no mother want their child to hurt, this is where the collision comes in and the mind plays it’s cruel game.
Mr.Vegas best song is called “do u know”…it covers PMD excellently.check it out n the lyrics are so deep.Congratz on overcoming PMD sweetest Sweets.I admire ur strength!
Damn Met! The story just break! Nothing get pass you.
The sorry real sad tho.
Condolences to the family.
Mental issues in the black community is shame. Its sad some people have too much pride and shame to go get help or do something for those in need. Some think that behavior is acceptable or in denial.
I was ashamed to tell my husban and my family that i was suffering from Postpartum depression the thoughts that were popping in and out my mind are just unspeakable, i wanted to kill my baby and myself so bad i started to plan my own funeral i wanted toss my baby out a moving car window on to the road. Sigh! I was so ashamed to speak about this until now i didn’t want to tell anyone about what was happening to me because i didn’t want them to judge me or say im evil but it was my faith in god that kept me strong i prayed and asked the almighty that anything that is not of him to remove it from my life and that he did. GOD IS GOOD