Foster mum held for Indian girl’s death

Houston, November 17

The foster mother of three-year-old Indian girl Sherin Mathews found dead in a culvert in Dallas has been arrested and charged with child abandonment.

Sherin was adopted last year by the Indian-American couple, Wesley Mathews and Sini Ann Mathews. The couple left Sherin home alone while they went out for dinner with their 3-year-old biological daughter on October 6, the night before the child was reported missing by her adoptive father.

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Wesley has already been arrested and charged with injury to a child, a felony charge. He is now in jail with a $1 million bond. The crime is punishable with up to 99 years in prison.

The couple from Kerala, allegedly left Sherin alone in the kitchen because she refused to drink her milk, police in Richardson, Texas, said yesterday. The 35-year-old mother was arrested yesterday when she turned herself in at the Richardson City Jail, escorted by her attorney.

She is being held on a charge of abandoning  or endangering a child, a state jail felony. Bail has been set at $250,000, the police said.

Sini, a nurse at Children’s Medical Center Dallas, could face additional charges, sergeant Kevin Perlich said. The toddler is expected to be moved out of foster care to live with an extended family member in Houston. — PTI