A Vermont woman has pleaded guilty to a child endangerment charge brought after videos surfaced last Thursday of a child with pieces of fabric tied around her neck in a suffocating manner.
Candice John, who is said to be aged 26, pleaded guilty today (Monday) at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court to a charge that on Jan. 20, at Vermont, having charge or care of the juvenile (name omitted) did wilfully ill-treat her in a manner likely to cause her unlikely suffering.
Prosecutor acting Corporal of Police Carlene Samuel told the court she was accepting the guilty plea.
She, however, made an application for a social inquiry report before sentencing, “because of the nature of the report”.
Samuel said she did not know if the court was minded to hear the facts before sentencing.
Defence counsel Grant Connell told the court that he “totally” agreed with the prosecutor, adding that the hearing of the facts can wait.
“Finally, some wisdom in this case,” he told the court, adding, “I don’t know if another woman being involved brought some wisdom to this case.”
The lawyer told the court that he would refrain from saying some things.
Connell said he, too, was going to ask that a pre-sentencing report be prepared “given the nature of the alleged offence, the charge itself.
“We do not have all the facilities in place but we have to work with what we have,” he said.
“She needs that. St. Vincent and the Grenadines doesn’t have a psychiatrist,” the lawyer further said.
He told the court that his client was able to get station bail.
“I would not go into the aspect of that. If you look at the charge sheet, police have to understand that once they charge, it is out of their jurisdiction.”
The defence and prosecution agreed that three weeks should be enough for the preparation of the report.
Senior Magistrate Colin John, however, adjourned the matter to March 4, saying this should give all of the parties “some elbow room”.
The child in question was placed in foster care after police launched their investigation last week.