Mom Charged With Violent Beheading Of Her Baby Girl Pleads Insanity [Video/911 Call]
Deasia Watkins, 20, has been accused of stabbing and beheading her 3-month-old baby girl on the counter of her aunt’s home earlier this year. She has been found competent to stand trial. Her plea is not guilty by reason of insanity.
According to WCPO Cincinnati,baby girl Janiyah Watkins was taken from Deasia’s home in January and placed into the care of her aunt. Deasia was court ordered to have no contact with her baby girl, but for reasons unknown was living in her relative’s house with the baby.
this story is just awful: Mom in decapitation case found fit for trial @WCPO http://t.co/ELuWE9hNM2
— Meghan Wesley (@MeghanWesley) September 16, 2015
A 5-year-old little boy found the baby girl lying on the counter, stabbed, with her head cut off. He immediately woke his mother, who was supposed to be caring for the baby girl. The following video shares the 911 call from the morning Janiyah was found dead.
The mother of the baby girl was located by police in the same home as Janiyah, in a bed covered with blood, reports WLWT. Watkins’ attorney, Norman Aubin, says Deasia did not know what she was doing when she killed the baby, due to a condition called postpartum psychosis. Stories like this one involving murderous moms are often met with derision. Pleading not guilty by reason of insanity seems to be an easy way to get away with murder. Perhaps Deasia Watkins’ story, however, is different.
Deasia #Watkins who ‘beheaded daughter #Janiyah‘ pictured in mug shot http://t.co/ehAbuOeOO4 #ZippedNews http://t.co/laxOfqbzFE — News in Summary (@news_in_summary) March 20, 2015
WCPO previously reported in March of this year that the baby girl’s mother has a life-long history of abandonment and neglect. When Deasia was a baby girl, she and her brother were removed from the home of their parents due to “neglect and dependency.” The following is a social worker’s assessment from 1998, when the girl was 3-years-old.
“[Deasia Watkins] has infections in both ears, which had spread from one ear due to not receiving timely medical treatment. She also does not talk. She has no vocabulary.”
Watkins’ mom tried in 2005 and 2008 to regain custody of her children, but both times was denied. The girl spent 17 out of the 20 years of her young life in various homes of relatives.
After giving birth to her baby girl, Deasia was placed on a psychiatric hold for 72 hours and diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, meaning she began exhibiting psychotic behavior following the birth of her baby girl. She was prescribed Risperdal, an anti-psychotic medication, but it is unknown if she took the pills.
Deasia has now been found competent to stand trial for the murder of her baby girl, but due to the postpartum psychosis diagnosis, it is doubtful if she will face a death penalty.
Do you think Deasia Watkins should be punished for the murder of her baby girl?
[Image via Shutterstock]
