‘BABY IS SLEEPING’

The baby, Mercy La Foucade, was born on February 8 and is believed to have died at home sometime in early March. Instead of alerting the authorities to the death and then going through final rites and then burial or cremation, baby Mercy’s family opted to keep her body in the crib.

No one in the village had a clue that inside the small, wooden house, a baby’s body lay in a crib for over five months, decomposing down to bones.

According to reports, a female relative became suspicious after asking about the child and was prevented from entering the room in which the crib is kept.

The relative then went to the La Brea police and reported her suspicion that something was not right in the house. At one o’clock Thursday afternoon, officers went to the house where the child was last seen alive and spoke to a 40-year-old woman who is a mother of three - a girl aged 18, a boy aged 15 and a 13-year-old girl. Asked the whereabouts of her granddaughter, the woman claimed the baby was sleeping.

When officers demanded to see the baby themselves, the woman still refused asking if they had a search warrant. Officers later entered the house and then a bedroom.

What they saw, shocked them.

They saw baby Mercy’s body - mere skeletal remains - clad in a jersey, disposable diapers, socks on both feet and wrapped in a brown blanket. A mosquito net was placed over the crib. Officers contacted the District Medical Officer who ordered the remains removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsy.

All four members of the baby’s family were detained and taken to the La Brea police station where they remained in custody up until yesterday. Newsday understands that Homicide Investigations Bureau officers were informed of the find but until an autopsy is done to show cause of death, the baby’s death is not being treated as a homicide. Neighbours of the detained family said yesterday that the woman and her children never reported that the baby had died and although they became suspicious, when they did not see the baby being taken for walks, they thought the family was merely keeping to themselves.

Police investigators said yesterday that they had never encountered such a situation before and will attempt to have the detained four undergo psychiatric assessment as part of the ongoing investigation.

The four detained persons continue to insist that the baby is not dead and that they want to be released so they can go home to bathe and feed baby Mercy. When Newsday visited the scene yesterday inside Chin Fong Street, officers were still conducting interviews with neighbours.

An officer told Newsday that when police first visited the house to enquire about the baby, they were told that she was inside “sleeping.” After pressing to see the baby themselves, the baby’s 40-year-old grandmother told them to “get a warrant.” Police said that checks at health centres in La Brea and at the San Fernando General Hospital to see if baby Mercy’s birth was registered, turned up nothing.

Officers said that the 18-yearold gave birth in February at home with her 15-year-old sister acting as midwife. A resident told Newsday the last time she heard the baby’s sounds was five months ago. “But even so, I never suspected she was dead and in the house. I was shocked when I heard the news that police had found the baby’s body. Even as I speak to you now, my pores are raising all over again,” the resident said. The woman said that in March, the baby’s usually jovial family began moving differently, keeping to themselves and acting “cold” with everyone. “But still we did not suspect anything,” the resident said.

The resident said that the baby’s mother was the only one to complete secondary school education as the other two had dropped out school. Investigations are being led by Sgt Taitt and Sgt Gokool of the La Brea Police Station.

With additional reporting by KWAME WEEKES