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BOTH psychiatrist Dr Varma Deyalsingh and clinical traumatologist and clinical therapist Hanif Benjamin have urged people not to be too quick to judge or condemn a woman in police custody in connection with the death of nine-month-old Selieen Ramsaroop.
“Only when you are in the fire you can feel the heat. I am almost positive that woman had been crying out for help but no one did anything,” Benjamin, former chairman of the Children’s Authority told the Sunday Newsday.
Deyalsingh said it could have been a psychological “act of love” by the woman who harboured a warped sense of wanting to save the baby from a life of poverty and abuse she herself has endured.
Sharmela Deonarine – in whose crudely constructed home Selieen was fed a concoction of milk and cereal mixed with a poisonous substance, leading to her death, at Unis Road, Busy Corner, New Grant, Thursday – has said prior to the tragedy, the woman had complained of not having food or clothes for the baby. Deonarine produced tins of milk and cereal, as well as baby clothes she bought on her salary as a domestic worker, to dispute the claim.
Deyalsingh said abuse, compounded by poverty, where it is difficult to make ends meet or provide food for children and a lack of support could lead to an emotional or mental breakdown causing someone to act outside of the norm.
Based on revelations by the suspect’s family that she attempted to end the life of one of her three sons, sometime ago, by the same method, Deyalsingh said she should have been red-flagged.
He said this pattern indicated some kind of mental illness or symptoms of postpartum depression and she should have been helped.
Deyalsingh said the fact that a medical social worker from the San Fernando General Hospital called her family three weeks ago and asked them to rescue her and Selieen, after the woman was physically abused by a male relative, meant the system was aware of some of her challenges.
He said it seems that her situation was not properly assessed, lamenting again the failure of the system for the poor and vulnerable who really need help.
A frustrated Benjamin said he did not know what else to say that he has not said before, especially after a child is harmed.
“We don’t know if she was suffering from postpartum depression. We need to determine what it (her ailment) is. Postpartum has no timeline. There is no timeline for mental health.
[caption id="attachment_976703" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Sharmela Deonarine holds a baby bag and clothes at the place where nine-month-old Selieen Ramsaroop was force-fed a cocktail of milk, cereal and poison on Thursday. The baby died at hospital. - MARVIN HAMILTON[/caption]
“What we need to understand is, what is mental health? What mental looks like, what stress looks like. How stress and mental health can in fact be manifested in a person. More and more what is needed is education, education, education.
“Too many of our children are being hurt. Too many of our families are being hurt because of mental health challenges and we are not doing anything about it.
“We talk a good talk, but my recommendation has always been we need to educate people. We need to be in schools, we need to be in our health centres, but more importantly we need to create a force of support for people.
“We don’t have enough support for people and when these things happen our officials jump and give us this anecdotal ‘well we have this programme and we have that programme’, but is it accessible to those who need it.”
The two men advocated for meaningful social intervention, pointing out that the impoverished and vulnerable, some who cannot read or write, are clueless about how to access help.
They called for social workers and mental health officers to go into communities, especially rural areas where people are under the radar, and set up programmes at community and health centres to reach the vulnerable.
Deonarine said she and the baby’s grandparents were able to view the body at the Forensic Science Centre, St James. An autopsy is expected to be performed this week.
Selieen was at the home of her grandparents with an adult woman and her 10-year-old brother. The woman told police that around noon, the baby was crying non-stop and she fed her Malathion mixed with milk and cereal to get her to stop.
Hours later, when Deonarine returned home and found the baby unresponsive, she was taken to the Princes Town District Health Facility and transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital where she died later that evening.
A 30-year-old woman is in police custody. Investigations are continuing.
 
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