Sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly, but 22-year-old Deasia Watkins of Hamilty County, Ohio has learned the wheels of justice do turn.
On March 16, 2015, law enforcement officials responded to a 911 call and rushed to the home of Watkins’ aunt, who was taking care of the child, and discovered the decapitated infant on the kitchen counter.
County prosecutor Joe Deters said police found Watkins in a bed at her aunt’s home, covered in blood and battling “serious mental issues.”
Jayniah had been stabbed multiple times with a large kitchen knife and one of her arms was broken, officials said. Her mother had placed the murder weapon in the infant’s hand, they added.
“She later told police she did that so people would think the child did it — not her,” Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor David Prem said in court, The Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
Court records reveal Watkins had been “acting crazy” and raving about demons in the time leading up to the murder.
She was deemed a threat to her infant child by a juvenile court judge, who granted Hamilton County Job and Family Services custody of the child.
The government family services agency later placed Jayniah in the short-term care of an aunt, under the stipulation the aunt would not let the mother have contact with the child unless social workers were present, local officials explained.
The prosecutor’s team stated Job and Family Services followed court orders by locating a family member to take care of the child, while regularly checking on her.
But Deters said social workers were unaware the baby’s mother had moved into the aunt’s home about a week before the murder took place.
Psychiatrists diagnosed her with postpartum psychosis, court documents reveal. She was placed on medication, her lawyers told the judge.
Court records indicate doctors had declared Watkins a threat to the child and required her to stay on psychiatric medication, hence the warning to the aunt.
Watkins had initially entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ by reason of insanity. As a result, the court ordered she be given a psychiatric evaluation to determine her competency to stand trial, which she clearly passed.
Watkins addressed the court, saying, “I love my daughter very much. And her name’s Jayniah Watkins. I loved her, regardless of what anybody says.”
On February 23 she appeared before a judge and entered a guilty plea. The Hamilton County judge sentenced Watkins 15 years to life for the shocking crime.
Sources: Daily Mail, WLWT, The Cincinnati Enquirer / Photo credit: Pixabay, WLWT via Daily Mail
Sassy Liberty