Previous entry: DMV license photo won’t be required for religious group
Next entry: Protesters accuse China of illegal organ harvesting
Subscribe: RSS
 |
RNB's RSS feed What is this? |
Subscribe: Email
 |
 Subscribe by Email What is this? |
Most Popular
- Attorney stymied by anti-polygamy activist’s TV demand
- Man killed at Hollywood Scientology center had made prior threats, police say
- Hate incidents in U.S. surge
- Five leaders of Muslim charity convicted in terrorism financing trial
- Swordsman Had Threatened Scientology Before
- Netherlands will extend burqa ban to universities
- California county OKs limits on picketing in response to anti-Scientology protests
- AUM Shinrikyo bankruptcy procedures to end, victims get 40% of compensation
- Mercy Ministries exorcism books leaked
- RNB Roundup: Atheism ads get tax support; Holland bans Magic Mushrooms; Fritzl turns to Buddhism; More…
Woman in cult charged in starvation death of her son
More articles on this topic: Woman in ‘cult’ charged in son’s starvation death
A Baltimore woman who police say is connected to a religious cult has been charged with first- degree murder in the death of her child, according to court documents obtained yesterday.
Ria Ramkissoon, 21, also known as “Princess Marie,” additionally is charged with child abuse, reckless endangerment and other offenses in the death of 21-month-old Javon Thompson. In December 2006, Ramkissoon had taken her son and joined the religious group, 1 Mind Ministries, which operated for a time out of East Baltimore, according to relatives and police.
Court documents say cult members starved the toddler to death and kept his remains in a suitcase for more than a year, until Baltimore homicide detectives found the body in Philadelphia.
Last night, Ramkissoon’s mother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, said her daughter called her from the city jail - the first time the two had spoken in two years. Khadan-Newton said police arrested Ramkissoon at a Baltimore homeless shelter yesterday.
Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for the city state’s attorney’s office, said a court commissioner ordered yesterday that Ramkissoon be held without bail. She is to have a bail review hearing in front of a judge today.
[...]The leader of 1 Mind Ministries, who identifies herself as Queen Antoinette, had a problem with Javon, who a police source in court papers said would not comply with the group’s ritual of saying “amen” after meals.
Court papers say that the more Queen Antoinette pressed the toddler, the more resistant he became and that he was subsequently deprived of food and water as punishment. Javon became thinner and developed dark circles around his eyes, the source told police.
The boy eventually stopped breathing, but the group - which included Javon’s mother - sought no medical assistance, court papers allege. The police source said Javon’s body was placed in a back room at the group’s headquarters in the 3200 block of Auchentoroly Terrace in West Baltimore. Queen Antoinette told the group that Javon would be raised from the dead, according to court papers.
After more than a week, Javon’s clothing was removed and burned, along with the mattress where he lay, the police source said, according to court papers. The boy’s remains were placed in a green suitcase, which the source said Queen Antoinette would occasionally open and spray the interior compartment to mask the odor, court papers allege.
The group, which also included Marcus Cobbs, Trevia Williams, Steven Bynum and two school-age children, moved to Philadelphia in February 2007, where they carried the green suitcase in the trunk of a rented vehicle, court papers say.
After living in a hotel for about a month, the two children were removed from the group by the Department of Social Services in Philadelphia, according to court papers. The group was evicted from the hotel, court papers say.
[...]The group resettled in Brooklyn, N.Y., court papers say, and the green suitcase was found in the shed by Baltimore homicide detectives more than a year later.
[...]The people identified in court records as being associated with 1 Mind Ministries had plans to launch businesses all over Baltimore, including a clothing line called J.C. Apparel with the slogan “Don’t be shamed to rock his name, Jesus Christ!” according to previous state records.
According to court records, the group referred to some members with royalty honorifics such as “queen” and “princess,” wore all white and eschewed health care.
They are accused in court papers of insisting that a pregnant woman give birth without access to doctors.
What You Can Do From Here
Share This Article
To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:
