By Paul Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE 20-YEAR-OLD Montego Bay woman who is charged with the brutal beating of a five-year-old boy two weeks ago, is to see a court-recommended psychiatrist today, to determine whether she is competent to stand trial.
Resident Magistrate Valrie Stephens, on seeing the accused Sophia Dawson for the first time on April 6, ordered that she be seen by a psychiatrist before returning to court.
The court was told on Friday that the child remains hospitalised. Dawson is to be interviewed by the Legal Aid Clinic, following which a lawyer should be assigned to her before she returns to court on April 21.
She was arrested on April 2 when the police, acting on information, went to a house on First Street, Albion, Montego Bay, where they found the boy naked and locked in a bathroom.
Dawson was also found in a room in the same house.
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 the head and burns to the arms, stomach, thighs, legs, back and buttocks. There were also cuts to both lips.
Another woman, Karen Hop-wood, 30, who had adopted the child and had been living at the same address, is being sought by the police in connection with the case. The court was told that an arrest warrant was issued for her but she had apparently fled the area.
The police said that Hopwood is known to frequent Ocho Rios, St. Ann, and Kingston.
