Baby snatcher needs psychiatric care, lawyer tells court
ATTORNEY Carol DaCosta, who is representing the medical assistant accused of snatching a day-old baby from the University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew two Fridays ago, told the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court that the accused woman was not mentally well when the incident occurred.
Lorna Williamson, 47, of Mountain View in Kingston, was arrested and charged with child-stealing after the baby was reportedly found in her possession in Rollington Town, five hours after the child went missing.
“The offence is grave, however, she experienced an emotional, acute wound that caused her to have a psychotic break,” DaCosta told Parish Judge Jacqueline Wilcott during her bail application.
“But she has come back from the precipice and stands here lucid,” the attorney added.
DaCosta told the court that her client was in need of psychiatric and physical care as she had high blood pressure, “even though there is no possibility of her repeating the offence”.
The lawyer also mentioned that her client was still gainfully employed, as her employer was willing to keep her on at her job and that she will reside with her daughter if granted bail.
Williamson was subsequently granted $300,000 bail on condition that she reports every Sunday at the Mountain View Police Station and return to court on February 1.
Chairman of the board of the University Hospital of the West Indies, James Moss-Solomon, said at approximately 10:30 am on December 9, the hospital was alerted that the baby had disappeared.
The baby girl, who went missing from Ward 11 at the hospital, was taken from a cot adjacent to her mother’s bed.
At the time of the baby’s disappearance, the hospital said the only people on the ward were nurses and doctors and other medical staff who were making clinical rounds.
— Tanesha Mundle