Felicia Chen pleads guilty to murder, but her case is traversed
Felicia Chen
Turning to the courts…today, a well groomed and smiling Felicia Chen arrived at court extremely jovial but left crying after her case for murder was traversed to the next session of the Supreme Court which is set to commence in October. Chen is charged with the murder of three of her four children. This morning when the indictment was read to her, she wasted no time and pleaded guilty before Justice Troadio Gonzalez, but her plea was rejected. She told Justice Gonzalez that her attorney is Antoinette Moore who represented her when the murders occurred. But since then Moore has been appointed a temporary judge with the Supreme Court and is posted at the Southern Regional session of the Supreme Court. Justice Gonzalez advised her to retain another attorney and was told that she has been given time to do so. Chen at the age of twenty two, in April 2013, was charged with the murders of two daughters and a son. She was initially deemed to be unstable after she took her children to Belizean Beach and caused them to drown. Her fourth child was able to flee and was therefore saved. Chen, back in September 2013, was declared fit to stand trial after spending time in a mental institution. Today her relatives were outside the courtroom to see her as she arrived from prison. Chen’s next court date is set for October seventh, 2014.
This young woman was probably suffering from post partem depression. She was 23 with four children. She was a baby machine. Young women need to learn how to take care of themselves and not just have these children that most time they are left to take care of alone.
Educate them please. Help thee women to see that having all these children does not add up to love, but stupidity, and a life of poverty.
its a cycle from what i’ve seen. their grandmothers did, their mothers did it..so they do it and with the mother’s blessing. i find it just shameful and stupid, but how do you contend with strange traditions?
This is sad. It is a case that is very complicated, I do feel that she is mentally ill, perhaps had she gotten the proper mental health screening for post-partum depresssion and treatment, the children could have been saved. I hope this bring awareness to this problem and medical providers can take action.