By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
DESPITE AN impassioned plea from her attorney, the 20-year-old woman who was implicated in the brutal beating of a five-year-old boy was on Wednesday denied bail when she re-appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court.
In denying the application for bail, Resident Magistrate Wilson Smith questioned why Sophia Dawson, who it was heard had only lived in the house in which she and the boy were found for just about one week, had lied about the whereabouts of the boy and why she had failed to report the incidents of abuse that she saw.
The court was told that Dawson had told a Children's Services officer and the police that the child was not there when they had gone to the Albion home to look for the boy.
It was heard that it was after neighbours had converged on the house demanding that she told the truth and hand over the child and a further search of the premises was made, that the police located the child naked and locked in a bathroom.
Natalie Messado-Brown who is representing Dawson said her client had nothing to do with the beatings but had witnessed someone else beating the child.
The attorney said Dawson who she described as "a victim of circumstances herself" was afraid of the person who had done the beatings and had been warned not to let anyone including the police into the house.
Mrs. Messado-Brown told the court that her client "never at any time laid a finger on the child and has no business being in lock up."
The court heard that Dawson who is of a St. Mary address had nowhere to live and had ended up living with an 'exotic dancer' who had taken the child whose mother is also an exotic dancer to live with her.
The court heard that the child who had implicated Dawson in his torture was still a patient in the Cornwall Regional Hospital, six weeks after he was rescued from the house.
The court heard that the child's body was covered from head to foot with multiple injuries, including cuts and bruises consistent with systematic beatings. Both eyes were said to be swollen shut. There were burn marks to the side and back of the head and burns to the arms, stomach, thighs, legs, back and buttocks. There were also cuts to both lips.
Another woman, Karen Hopwood, 30, who had adopted the child and had been living at the same address, is being sought by the police in connection with the case. The court was told that an arrest warrant was issued for her but she had apparently fled the area.
