Family of dead baby remains in custody

Police investigators made the comments yesterday in response to the cries of La Brea residents for psychiatric help for a 40 year-old grandmother in whose house the decaying baby girl was kept snug under a blanket in a crib for months.

“Investigations are ongoing in this matter. We do not have the authority to take anybody for psychiatric evaluation. Only if a person is charged and a court makes such an order will a person be taken for such an evaluation,” a senior police officer said.

It is believed the baby girl named “Mercy” died eight months ago.

An autopsy performed on Friday at the Forensic Sciences Centre, St James, to determine the cause of death was inconclusive.

Up to yesterday, the grandmother and three of six children - an 18-year-old young woman who is also the baby’s mother, a boy, 15, and a 13-year-old girlremained in police custody.

Woman Sgt Taitt of the La Brea Police Station is spearheading investigations.