By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
AN UNEMPLOYED 20-year-old woman who was arrested for what the police described as the alleged systematic abuse of a five-year-old child, was remanded for psychiatric evaluation when she appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.
The child has since been hospitalised at the Cornwall Regional Hospital.
When asked if she had a lawyer, the woman Sophia Dawson told the court that it was her first time in a courtroom and that she had not been contacted by her relatives since her arrest. She also made it clear that she was ignorant of legal procedures and was not exactly sure of how to act.
Dawson was arrested on Friday, April 2 when the police, acting on information, went to a house on First Street, Albion, Montego Bay, where they found the five-year-old naked and locked in a bathroom.
HIDING FROM ANGRY MOB
The accused was also found in a room in the same house, apparently seeking refuge from an angry mob that was gathered outside and which was threatening to avenge what they felt she had done to the child.
The court heard that the child's body was covered from head to foot with multiple injuries, including cuts and bruises consistent with systematic beatings. Both eyes were said to be swollen: there were burn marks to the side and back of his head and burns to his arms, stomach, thighs, legs, back and buttocks. There were also cuts to both lips.
The court was also told that an arrest warrant has been taken out for 30-year-old Karen Ann Hopwood, who had adopted the child and lived at the same address.
The police said that Hopwood, who is known to frequent Ocho Rios, St. Ann and Kingston, has managed to elude them so far.
Dawson is to return to court on April 16 when the case will again be mentioned.
