A 23-year-old woman was on Friday remanded to prison for allegedly giving her four-year-old daughter poison to drink.
Niladave Shamsundar called “Tasha” of Lot 1 Number 50 Village Corentyne, Berbice appeared at the Number 51 Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Alex Moore and was not required to plea to the charge of attempt to commit murder.
It is alleged that on October 2, at their home, she attempted to murder four-year-old Tenisha Shamsundar by giving her a poisonous substance to drink.
The charge was laid under section 103 (a) of the Criminal law (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:01.
Magistrate Moore remanded the housewife and ordered that she returns to court on December 9, for a police progress report.
The court was told that the child is currently in a stable condition.
According to the police, on October 2, 2022, at about 20:00hrs, the accused and her husband had a heated argument during which he slapped her.
In turn, the accused told him that she will kill herself and her children.
At the time, the accused and the four-year-old were in the house, while the father was in a hammock on the verandah.
Shortly after, the child started screaming and her father rushed to her and saw Shamsundar with a bottle containing poison in her hand.
The four-year-old was taken to the hospital where she was admitted and remains a patient.
It had been reported initially that the mother told investigators that her four-year-old daughter was playing in the yard and subsequently informed her that she had opened a bottle that was in the goat pen and drank some of the substance.
It was also reported that police subsequently said they were able to obtain a confession statement from the child’s mother who admitted to giving the toddler the poison to drink.
