Baby Mercy’s family still in custody

Up to last evening, police detectives confirmed that the grandmother, who is 40 years old and her children — an 18-year-old young woman who is also the baby’s mother, a boy, 15, and a 13-year-old girl — were assisting with the investigations.

It is believed the baby girl named “Mercy”, who was born on February 8, died some eight months ago. But rather than reporting the death to the authorities, the baby was kept inside a crib in a room of the wooden house located at Chin Fong Alley #1, Sobo Village.

Last Friday, an autopsy performed at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, revealed that the cause of death was inconclusive.

The bizarre discovery of the decaying body of the baby girl still clad in a diaper caused several residents to call on police to have psychiatric evaluations conducted especially for the grandmother, who had told them that the baby was hers.

Police have since responded to the cries saying that they do not have the authority to take detained individuals for psychiatric evaluation unless they are charged for an offence.

All four relatives were not charged as of last evening.

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