Cult Mom Pleads Guilty To Starving Son, 1

But She Agreed To Deal Only On Condition That Plea Be Withdrawn If Boy Is Resurrected

(AP)  A former religious cult member pleaded guilty Monday to starving her 1-year-old son to death after making an unusual deal with prosecutors: If the child is resurrected, her plea will be withdrawn.

Ria Ramkissoon, 22, also agreed to testify against four other members of the now-defunct religious group known as 1 Mind Ministries. All four are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Javon Thompson.

According to a statement of facts, the cult members stopped feeding the boy when he refused to say "Amen" after a meal. After Javon died, Ramkissoon sat next to his decomposing body and prayed for his resurrection.

Ramkissoon's attorney, Steven D. Silverman, said Ramkissoon believes the resurrection will occur. She agreed to plead guilty only after prosecutors said they would drop the charges if the child comes back to life, Silverman said.

"This is something that she absolutely insisted upon, and this is indicative of the fact that she is still brainwashed, still a victim of this cult," he said. "Until she's deprogrammed, she's not going to think any differently."

Baltimore Circuit Judge Timothy J. Doory assured Ramkissoon that the plea would indeed be withdrawn if the child is resurrected.

Ramkissoon pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse resulting in death. She will remain in custody until she testifies against her co-defendants and will receive a suspended 20-year sentence and serve five years probation. Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 11. By then, Ramkissoon would have spent about a year behind bars.

As part of her probation, Ramkissoon must submit to treatment, including sessions with an expert on cult behavior.

The maximum sentence for child abuse resulting in death is 30 years, and defendants typically receive between 12 and 20 years, according to Maryland sentencing guidelines.

Ramkissoon will fare much better under the plea deal than if she had pursued an insanity defense, Silverman said. A court psychiatrist found that she was both competent to stand trial and could have been held criminally responsible for Javon's death because she knew the difference between right and wrong.

Silverman could have challenged that finding, and he said prosecutors told him they wouldn't have stood in his way. In a letter to Silverman that outlined the terms of the plea deal, prosecutors said the finding of criminal responsibility was "somewhat surprising."

If Ramkissoon had been found not criminally responsible in court, she would have been committed indefinitely to a state mental hospital. By pleading guilty, she will serve little jail time and still get the treatment she needs, Silverman said.

Ramkissoon's mother and stepfather and Javon's paternal grandmother wept in court as prosecutors described the boy's death. The petite Ramkissoon, a native of Trinidad, was calm, answering the judge's questions in a barely audible voice.

When asked her address, she gave the location of the city jail. Asked later whether she had any other place she called home, she said, "No."

Ramkissoon's mother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, said the cult manipulated her daughter into disowning her family.

"We are behind her now. We are in the past," Khadan-Newton said.

Geraldine Ridgley, Javon's paternal grandmother, said Ramkissoon deserves a stiffer punishment.

The boy's father, Robert Thompson, was not in court Monday. Ridgley said he was ill. Thompson was in jail when Javon was born.

After the boy died, the cult members left his body inside the apartment where they lived until it began to decompose, according to police documents and the statement of facts. In early 2007, they stuffed the body inside a suitcase and filled it with mothballs and fabric softener sheets to mask the odor.

The cult members relocated to Philadelphia, where they befriended an elderly man and stored the suitcase in a shed behind his home. It remained there for more than a year before police found it, the documents say.

The judge also ordered the four co-defendants to appear before another judge Tuesday to receive a new trial date. Alleged cult leader Queen Antoinette and ex-members Trevia Williams and Marcus A. Cobbs are being held without bail. Steven L. Bynum is free on his own recognizance.

[toldyouso29]

leeanna59..."amen" is not a word normally associated with hinduism. also, in hitler's germany, they felt they were doing the work of god getting rid of the jews. it would also be incorrect calling Stalin's Russia atheist, as it was the state that was a God.
Posted by honestabe8 at 8:38 AM : Mar 31, 2009


Wrong about Stalin. He was against and punished/persecuted all religons, and communism does not believe that the state is God--it believes that the state is a collective and that those who join the party are privileged within the collective.

A take on the "Animal farm" concept: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others"Face it--death destruction and mayhem follows ALL pursuit of power--being driven by religion or secular greed--the results to the masses (oppression/elitism/injustice/tragedy) are the same.

[toldyouso29]

Baltimore Circuit Judge Timothy J. Doory assured Ramkissoon that the plea would indeed be withdrawn if the child is resurrected.

Ramkissoon pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse resulting in death. She will remain in custody until she testifies against her co-defendants and will receive a suspended 20-year sentence and serve five years probation. Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 11. By then, Ramkissoon would have spent about a year behind bars. "

I don't believe the mommy is really brainwashed--just stupid--how about the court tells her she will be held in prison until the resurrection she is so sure of actually occurs? since she is so 'sure' of this event, then she won't be in jail long, right?

[stupidrules3]

Nobody is God, except God.
Posted by davicar2 at 6:14 AM : Apr 1, 2009

I agree vic, I was just trying to point out how people who want to stand on their side of the argument and blame the other side for all the evils in the world might need to take a look at themselves first. You know the old saying about making sure your own porch is clean before complaining about your neighbor's.

[honestabe8]

shogans: the child was killed for refusing to say "Amen". what religion uses "Amen" other than christianity?

[honestabe8]

shogans: do you think that christianity has been the only religion to do "good things"?

[shogans]

First of all everybody keep blaming religion. It is not religion it is the wrong religion. The bible teach us not to kill so don't blame this on religion. What about the good things that religion have done like fed the hungry, helped the poor, got people off drugs. Dont be fooled

[barbaram99]

I hear ye.. If it not this. It be a drive by shooting, I ask the same thing. I can't believe a parent who so brained washed kill a child for the dumbest issues. I will not stand with them believe that pack of lies. No one has the right to force a child to follow any church. I was 15 and entered a new foster home and the first thing that foster mother forced me to attend church against my will. I had to go. hated it. That woman needs to be fixed so she can't breeed. Years ago they took children from them cultists.

[rssllbll55]

Every freaking time I open the new paper there's a story like this. Here's a kid who refused to say Amen, now what does the mother do. Strave the kid to death. What kind of people life on this planet.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that is whole thing was the direct result of what the mother believed. It seem to me that anytime religion comes into play things start to really stink.
How any I must ask does a God would loves us all. Let a thing like this happen. No person in there right mind has a satisfactory answer, except to say there is no God.

[honestabe8]

barbara: i agree. the point i was making was that it isn't just "cults" that hoodwink believers

[luckygirl042]

She needs to stay in jail UNTIL her son is resurrected.
Posted by coolafella at 6:50 AM : Apr 1, 2009
******************************************************
Sounds right to me.

[barbaram99]

I have seen them tv preaching and I don't bother with them. I don't attend church. Yep some are so messed up. All they want is yer money. Jesus is not in them. It is the poor that give. I am poor. I don't support the church. I have a bible that just just sits on a table unread. i ain't messed up as I know better than fall for the church when all they want to do is take from its membership and fill their heads with lies. i asked my Dad if he had me join a church when I was a child. He said nope. He wanted us as adults to make that choice. It pisses me children die in the name of the church. They are more blind than , The golden rule is the key. This woman should have done unto her as she did to her child. That is fair.

[honestabe8]

also, if everyone follows what is true to them, there is no need for any churches. the only possible texts would be the person's only journal whereby they reveal their inner thoughts.

[honestabe8]

No, I wouldn`t recommend that.

Not many people have been able to manufacture their own path to salvation.
Posted by davicar2

Vic: Not everybody accepts the idea that man needs "salvation"

[rrozsa]

I have seen deasth in forms of man against man . I have death as a accident that crep into my life and stole away people I love. I have seen death dealt out by governments. I have seen death bring priests to suicide.If I ever came across some one starving a child on purpose ? I will see death in the form of law that will take my life right after I take a few days with the parent or parents to peel thier skin off with a pair of hemo stats.
Posted by usanative2 at 6:58 AM : Apr 1, 2009

===================

I didn't see that last sentence coming! LOL

[rrozsa]

Karl Marx said it best, "religion is the opium of the masses"
Only one good thing ever came form religion and should be practiced by everyone, everywhere "Do into others, as you would have them do unto you" PERIOD No Catechism, No Koran, No Bible, no Ron Hubbard trash
Posted by arlvabear at 3:57 AM : Apr 1, 2009

=====================

I myself don't see anything wrong with "Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself". Or, "Inasmuch as you have done unto the least of these my brethren, even so you have done unto me." I don't think either of these statements by Jesus is any more threatening than the Golden Rule. It's ORGANIZED DOGMA that tends to screw people up, not a spiritual relationship with God.

[honestabe8]

It`s a fair trade, when you consider how many lives are uplifted and saved by Religion.
Posted by davicar2

Best yet to ignore Religion and find your own truth, your own "god"

[honestabe8]

Nobody is God, except God.
Posted by davicar2

A statement that is undeniable, on the face of it.

[coolafella]

She needs to stay in jail UNTIL her son is resurrected.

[rf35]

More lives destroyed by religion.

[stupidrules3]

Oh, you mean, kinda like now, Obama is God?
Posted by leeanna59 at 8:41 AM : Mar 31, 2009

Or.....in your case, Rush Limbaugh is God.