A Linden dental technician was yesterday remanded to prison after being charged with killing her goddaughter.
Kelly Sandiford, 35, appeared before Magistrate Ann McLennan charged with manslaughter.
Sandiford was not required to plead to the indictable charge, which is based on the allegation that between November 16 and 17, at Wismar Housing Scheme, Linden, she unlawfully killed Todah Richards.
Prosecutor Michael Grant asked the magistrate to refuse bail in the light of the circumstances surrounding Richards’s death. Grant said here was an argument between Sandiford and Richards, which resulted in Sandiford tying her goddaughter to the bed with a brown belt. She subsequently left and went to her bed, leaving Richards tied up.
When she woke up around 2 am the next day and checked on Richards, she discovered that she was motionless. She then raised an alarm and when the police arrived at her home they discovered the belt was tied to Richards’s neck.
Sandiford’s attorney told the court that her client’s goddaughter was very ill when she offered to have her stay at her house.
The attorney added that while Richards’s death was very unfortunate, Sandiford was not in any way responsible. She also said Sandiford was not a flight risk and if the court considered to grant her bail she will return for her trial.
Bail was, however, refused and Sandiford is to make her next court appearance on December 9 at the Magistrate’s Court in Linden.
