(from wbaltv.com)
BALTIMORE -- A Baltimore mother accused of being part of a cult pleaded guilty Monday to starving her baby to death.
Prosecutors claimed during the trial of Ria Ramkissoon that her 16-month-old son, Javon Thompson, was denied food and water because he stopped saying amen at meal times and had a rebellious spirit. He later died.
Ramkissoon, 22, admitted her guilt in one of the strangest plea agreements reached in a Maryland court, 11 News reporter Barry Simms said.
Under the plea agreement, Ramkissoon would get 20 years behind bars with a judge suspending all but time served. She must also undergo treatment, including the process of deprogramming and five years of probation.
But the plea agreement also included that the murder charges against her be dropped if her son was resurrected.
"This is something she absolutely insisted upon, and it's indicative of the fact that she is still brainwashed and still a victim of this cult, and until she's deprogrammed, she's not going to think any differently," said Ramkissoon's attorney, Steven Silverman.
Ramkissoon was part of One Mind Ministries. Court charging documents showed members of the religious group and their leader, 40-year-old Queen Antoinette -- also known as Toni Sloan -- prayed for the child to rise again.
After about a week, the body was wrapped in a blanket and put in a wheeled suitcase with mothballs, and group members moved from Baltimore to Philadelphia, taking the suitcase with them.
The child's body was found in April 2008.
"Ria is as much a victim as Javon, though certainly under tragic circumstances. No one is more regretful about the death of the child as I am, but not withstanding the fact that she was victimized by a cult," Silverman said.
The child did not rise from the dead, so Ramkissoon pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in testifying against the other four members of the organization, all of whom have been charged with murder.
"This would not be considered a cult except for one fact -- it ended in a tragic, violent way," Silverman said.
"I mentioned to her that when she gets out, I want her to come home, and we can start building back together. She said she's not going backward. She's moving forward, meaning this family is not her family anymore -- she has a new family that she's going to move forward with … that's the cult," said Seta Khadan-Newton, Ramkissoon's mother.
"She had no business being around my son. She already admitted that she had killed Javon. She admitted that to my son. Then she admitted another story -- he's alive. You tell one story, then you tell another story. How can you be insane? You're not insane. She didn't look insane to me today," said Geraldine Ridgely, Javon's grandmother.
The other members of the cult were also in court Monday. Antoinette had no attorney present. She claimed God was her lawyer, Simms reported.
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