Bizarre was how the story surrounding the alleged death of baby Mercy seemed yesterday after her mother challenged the story given to the media by police.
“Mercy is alive, she is not dead,” Natalie Richins said after she and her three children were released from police custody.
Richins, 40, her daughter, Nicolette Harry, 18, and two other children—ages 13 and 14—had spent the last five days at the La Brea Police Station in connection with the alleged death of two-month-old Mercy. The children were released into the custody of their father.
However, Richins told the T&T Guardian Mercy was now nine months old, alive and well. She promised to reveal Mercy to the public soon.
Her story contradicts police reports over the last few days that the skeletal remains of a baby were found in her home at Sobo Village, La Brea, last Thursday.
Richins claimed there was a plot against her family and she would be going through the correct means to get justice.
“There were never any remains in this house. If there were remains in the house, why are we at home right now? If they (Police) had all these things that they said they have, why are we home? Why were we kept all this time and we were never charged?” she asked.
She said it was strange they were released when on Monday a homicide investigator said he had evidence that she caused the death of Mercy.
She said for the public to make sense of the police claims, they should consider how four people were able to live in a house for months with a decomposing body and why the neighbours did not report any stench.
Richins admitted to giving birth to Mercy at home on February 8 at 1.16 am but said her other children were also born at home.
Recalling the incident that led to her current situation, Richins said two female officers came to her home last Wednesday saying they were investigating a report that two of her children were not attending school.
It was during that conversation that the officers began to ask about Mercy. Richins said one of the officers asked whether Mercy was hers and if she ever breast fed the child but she told the officers she never had a child. The officers left but returned on Thursday and a woman sergeant demanded to see Mercy.
“I told them once they have the proper paperwork, they could. But she (woman police) said they are the police and did not need a warrant.
“She said ‘Let us go in the house’ but I walked into the driveway. She walked into the house and came back and leaned on the door, saying that she needed support, that there was a dead baby on the bed,” Richins said.
She added: “I was told at my home here that I was under arrest and ushered out quickly with my two younger children. They (police) said there were remains there. ‘Look there are remains there’ and I saw nothing. I thought this woman was crazy.”
Showing the room and mattress where the alleged remains were found, she said because the exterior wall was damaged, she and Mercy had not slept in there for a while.
Showing a stain on a mattress, she said it was urine that caused it. She also showed recently washed baby clothes, accessories and stage two diapers in the house.
Richins also claimed said she was kept in a separate room from her children throughout the five days of detention. During an interrogation, she claimed she was dragged off a chair by an investigator who tried to force her to sign documents.
Showing swollen wrists, she said they even squeezed her face and pulled back her head. She said the police mentioned the name Emelio Lawrence in their questions but she did not know such a person.
Richins and her children were also taken to the Point Fortin Area Hospital and were referred to the San Fernando General Hospital for psychiatric evaluations.
‘We have bones’
When contacted yesterday in relation to the case, Snr Supt of the South Western Division, Inraj Balram, said although the family was released inquiries were continuing. He then said he could not speak anymore as he was at a seminar. One of the investigators told the T&T Guardian that forensic evidence and DNA results were still outstanding. He maintained that the bones of a child were found at Richins’ Sobo Village home last Thursday. Asked whether it was being investigated as a murder, he said they were looking at all angles, whether it be accidental, negligence or homicide. He said an autopsy last week could not determine cause of death because of the state of decomposition.
Also contacted yesterday, T&T Police Service corporate communication manager, Ellen Lewis, said an autopsy confirmed that the skeletal remains found were that of a human approximately ten months old. Lewis advised Richins to make a complaint to the Police Complaints Authority and the T&T Police Service if she had any issues. As to the claim that there were never any bones at the house, she said it was still under investigation.