Reply
Tue 30 Sep, 2003 12:08 pm
The Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Sept. 30) - A 2-year-old left alone for nearly three weeks while her mother was behind bars survived by eating mustard, ketchup, rice and raw pasta, police said.
The toddler was watching cartoons when found by her father, police said Monday. She was suffering from malnutrition and was being treated at Wolfson Children's Hospital, police said.
Dakeysha Lee, 22, was charged Monday with child abuse because she didn't let anyone know that her daughter was alone in her apartment, police said. She was jailed Sept. 10 on unrelated charges.
Ogden Lee, who is separated from the girl's mother, said he talked to her by telephone at the jail Sunday and she said their daughter was with neighbors.
When he got into the apartment, the youngster had dragged food and toys into her mother's bedroom and was lying in a baby's bathtub. She was covered with dried ketchup, Lee said.
"She grabbed me and wouldn't let go of me," Lee said. "It is really a miracle how good a shape my daughter is in. I don't know how she did it."
09/30/03 05:47 EDT
Sounds like mom's parenting skills could stand some improvement...
One tries not to lose sight of the forest for the trees...
I read this story on Yahoo earlier and have to wonder just what the heck she was thinking. What purpose could there have been in lying to the girls father by telling him the kid was with a neighbor?
She should loose custody of the kid and be forced to have a sterilization. Dumb dumb dumb!
You unfeeling men simply do not understand! A Mother is central to her child's life and cannot be replaced by a neighbor.
Besides if Mama told her near and dear that she was going to jail, this would have given Daddy points in a custody battle. Mothers should not be replaced.
Better dead than in Dad's custody, Noddy?
I think this belongs on another thread...the one titled "Criminals get stupider all the time"...
fishin - forced sterility?
I'm guessing Noddy was being sarcastic.
Confirmation: Noddy was being outrageously sarcastic. The alternative was Noddy weeping.
This article doesn't go into detail about where the mother was when she was arrested. If she was home at the time, why didn't she tell the police she had a child? Why didn't the police check to see if she was alone or not? If She wasn't home at the time of arrest then she must have left her child home alone.
Er, well, yes!!
I have known a number of women who were imprisoned and had made no arrangements for their children - denial, I guess? Terminal stupidity? Hoping to use that to avoid imprisonment? (Once the kids were in court with the mum - and just left there as the police pulled the mother away to custody - luckily I was there, and dealt with it, because the court folk were not listening to the hysterical mother , and were ignoring the children's cries from the seats! I presume someone would have done something eventually...) I have never known one not to tell anyone about the children, though - although where I am our adult mental health people are so unaware of children that they are quite able to section a woman who is mad as a hatter, put her in hospital - never checking whether she has children in her care!
It's always a shame when the children suffer.
If the police are going to arrest the mother and the court incarcerate her, it would seem that they are also responsible for seeing that the child is taken care of. The police should have been responsible for accounting for the safety and well being of the child.
I agree with you Acquiunk
Children must first survive their parents.
Its the first test of life.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace